22 



LEPIDOBALANTJS 



ciliate; perianth cup-shaped, with 5—Q obtuse, slightly pilose segments; stamens 8 to 16; 

 the anthers glabrous, broadly ovate. Female inflorescence few-flowered, short, erect; styles 

 3 to 5, linear, recurved. Acorns solitary ; the cupule flat, small, thin, covering only 



the base of the glans; the scales ovate acute; their bases sericeous and connate; their 



apices free, membranous, sub-sericeous or glabrous; glans globular, smooth, 1 in. in 

 diameter. — Wall. Cat 2776 A and B ; PL Asiat. Rarior. ii. 56. t. 174; Miq. in Ann. Mus. 

 Lugd. Bat. i. 110; Brandt's For. Flora 479. t. 64; Wenzig Jahrb. Bot. Gart Berl. iv. 219; 

 Gamble Ind. Timbers 382 ; HooJc Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 601. — Q. obtusifolia and Cassuru, Don Prod- 



Fl. Nep. 56, 57. 



The North-Western Himalaya from Afghanistan to Nepal, at elevations of from 6,000 to 



12,000 feet. On the inner (absent from the outer) ranges of the North-Eastern Himalaya, 

 Calcutta Bot. Gard. Collectors; Bhotan (Woollaokka at 7,500 feet), — Griffith, (Kew Distrib.) 

 4553 ; Hills towards Bhotan, — G. Mann. 



This is a gregarious, deciduous species. It is usually rather a small tree with tortuous, 

 gnarled branches, but occasionally it attains a height of 80 or even 100 feet, and has then 

 a fine clear stem. It varies greatly as to foliage, and in some of its smaller states it is, in 

 the absence of acorns, with difficulty to be distinguished from Q. Hex, Linn., with which, in 

 point of fact, Griffith and others have confused it. The diagnostic mark given by Sir D. 

 Brandis (I.e.) is the best for leaf specimens; and that mark is the well-marked bifurcation of 

 the main nerves far short of the margin of the leaf in this species, whereas in Q. Ilex the nerves 

 run to the margin of the leaf without bifurcating. 



Fruitless specimens of what I take to be this species were collected by Dr. Gr. Watt on 

 Sirhoiferar (a mountain on the Naga-Burman frontier) at an elevation of 10,000 feet (Herb. 

 Watt. 5980.) 



Plate 15 A.— Q. semecarpifolia, Smith. 1, branch with male spikes; 2, branch with ripe 



fruit, — of natural size ; 3, male flower: enlarged. 





2. Quercus skrrata, Thunbg. tar. lloxburghii ; DC. Prod. xvi. ii. 51 



Young shoots softly pubescent, but speedily glabrous. Leaves in old specimens on slender, 

 rather long, petioles; shining, thinly coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, serrate ; 

 the teeth long, setaceous ; base entire rounded ; adult leaves glabrous on both 'surfaces', 

 with occasionally tufts of hairs in the axils of the nerves ; young leaves softly sericeous 

 below with a few adpressed hairs above; main lateral nerves 10 to 15 pairs, rather 

 prominent, passing at an acute angle from the midrib into the marginal teeth of which 

 they form the setae; length of blade 3 to 6 in., breadth 1-6 to 2 in.; petiole 1 to P5 

 in. long; stipules oblong, pilose along the midrib externally, from 5 in. to 1 in. Ion". 

 Male spikes elongated ; the rachis tomentose ; bracteoles ovate-lanceolate, pubescent, ' mucli 

 larger than the 5 or 6-lobed, pubescent perianth ; anthers about 10, glabrous. ' Female 

 Jkwers on short axillary spikes ; styles filiform. Acorns solitary or in pairs, sessile or 

 nearly so ; cupule hard, woody, embracing the whole of the young and the lower three- 

 fourths of the ripe glans ; sub-hemispherical ; 6 in. deep and from -75 in. to 1 in. in 

 diameter ; the scales numerous, much imbricate, not adpressed, free, elongate ( 25 in ) 

 ovate lanceolate, hoary, and with several vertical ridges outside; the lower rows much 

 reflexed, the upper less so ; glans sub-globose, apiculate, not much exceeding the cupule 

 smooth when ripe.- Wenzig Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berl. iv. 221.- Q. serrata, Thunbg. Bn.ndis 





