CHAPTER V. 



THE BEITISH OAK. 



The British oak, known generally as the common 

 oak, is plentiful in the British Isles, and universally 

 distributed throughout Europe and Asia, except in the 

 extreme northern parts. It is the best known and the 

 most enduring of all forest trees. 



Its botanical name is Quercus ro&«r, from the Latin and 

 Greek respectively. The ancients were full}' acquainted 

 with its durable and useful qualities, and thus it is not 

 surprising that the generic and specific names should 

 convey the meaning of hard or strong wood of oak. 



The genus Quercus embraces about three hundred 

 species. Whether regarded as a commercial object, or 

 on account of a large number of the species being 

 useful in so many ways, the oak tree is of great 

 importance, and its utility is not surpassed by any 

 other genus of forest tree. 



Q. robur may be regarded as the type of the oaks 

 which have sinuated leaves. The tree attains dimensions 

 considerably in excess of those of other species of 

 QiierciLS, mainly as regards the size of the trunk and 

 the lower limbs. It is not very lofty, but its lower 

 limbs spread over a considerable area, Q. cerris fre- 

 quently surpassing it in height by forty to fifty feet, 

 but does not spread so far. 



In summer and winter alike the British oak commands 

 attention : in early summer because of the delicate 

 emerald green of the unfolding leaves, which soon 

 expand into a wealtli of rich green umbrageous verdure. 



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