34 BRITISH OAK GALLS. 



By the time autumn arrives other developments have 

 taken place, and mingled with the brown and sere 

 leaves there are countless leather - brown acorns. 

 Autumn winds and winter storms shake down the 

 acorns, tear off and scatter the foliage and leave the 

 tree in unclothed grandeur. Its huge trunk and 

 massive limbs, gnarled, scored, and weather-lieaten by 

 tempests of hundreds of years, are then revealed to 

 perfection, while the characteristic twisted and elljowed 

 growth of the lesser branches and the twigs are clearly 

 silhouetted against the sky. 



There is a considerable tendency to variation in the 

 growth of the tree, and on this account botanists do 

 not appear to be agreed with regard to Q. rohur and 

 its varieties. Some are of opinion that there is but 

 one definite species, viz. Q. rohur. Others consider 

 the trees which bear sessile acorns and stalked leaves 

 to be a distinct species, and trees with pedunculated 

 acorns and stalkless leaves another species, and have 

 named them Q. sessiliflora and Q. peduncnlata respec- 

 tively. Other botanists recognise three forms : the 

 two just mentioned, but described classically as Q. rohur 

 sessiliflora and Q. rohur peflnnculnta, and an intermediate 

 form in which both acorns and leaves are pedunculated, 

 the leaves being somewhat pilose. To this form the 

 name of Q. rohur intermedia has been given. Many 

 foresters distinguish two sub-species and several 

 varieties. Undoubtedly Q. rohur exhibits two distinct 

 forms, one being represented by j»''^(??/y^f;?/rt/(/, the other 

 by sessiliflora, with many unimportant intermediate 

 forms. That the extremes are sufficiently definite to 

 merit the terms of species seems to be the opinion of 

 most botanists and writers, therefore throughout this 

 work they are used. Fruit and leaves of both are 

 shown on Plate III. 



The growth of seedling oaks is ver^^ interesting, 

 much more so if the structure of the acorn be studied 

 before planting any. Acorns gathered in the autumn 

 will yield the greatest amount of instruction. Descrip- 



