I 72fj AKBOULJU.M AM) rilUTICETUM. PAinill. 



Till- hark of Q. .Suber furnislies Huberiiie, the .suberic acid, and a product 

 by Car more important tlian that of any species of the genus, cork ; a substance 

 which is not produced by any other tree whatever, in suflicient quantities to 

 be ap|)lied to any useful purpose. 



Tlie leaves, tlie Howers, and tlie fruit, according to Bosc, afford nourish- 

 ment to more than 2(J0 species of insects, even in tiiencigliliourliood of I'aris; 

 and some of these insects are either valuable tiiemselves in tlie arts, or they 

 are the cause of excrescences, such as oak galls, which are valuable. The 

 leaves of Q. coccifera atibrd nouri.ihment to the Coccus ilicis, a hemipterous 

 insect, which is used in medicine under the name of kermes, and has been 

 employed in dyeing scarlet, from the remotest antiquity, uniier the name of 

 scarlet grain. This insect is produced, and cultivated for commerce, in the 

 south of France, and in various partsof tlie south of Europe, and of the East. 

 Oak galls, which are much in demand for the manufacture of ink and for dyeing 

 black, are produced on most of the deciduous European species, and are very 

 abundant on the section Z^obur ; but the galls of commerce are chiefly pro- 

 duced by the Q. infectoria, a native of Asia Minor and the adjoining countries. 

 All the smaller parts of oaks, such as the spray, buds, leaves, Howers, and 

 fruit, may be employetl in tanning ; and, accordingly, the cups, or calyxes, of 

 some species are in use for this purpo.se, more particularly those of the valonia 

 oiik (Q. yJ'j'^ilopH), a native of the Archipelago. The leaves of the section 

 liobwr are used as a substitute for spent tanner's bark in hot-houses ; and 

 beins slow in decomposition, arc found to retain the heat for a longer period 

 than those of any other European trees. 



The acorns of all the species are eilible ; and, in every country where the 

 oak abounils, they form the most important part of the food of wild quadru- 

 peds of the fructivorous or onmivorous kinds, and of some birds. The wild 

 animals most usefid to man, whicli are nourisheil by them, both in Europe 

 and America, are the wild boar, the stag, and the goat. In Asia, pheasants 

 and pigeons, with other birds in a wild state, eat acorns, no less than wild qua- 

 drupeds. In North America, cows, horses, swine, bears, sijuirrels, pigeons, 

 and wild turkey's devour them. Among the doniestic animals which eat and 

 thrive on acorns, the principal is the swine ; but there are lew animals and 

 birds, in a state of domestication, Bosc observes, that nniy not be made to 

 live and tln-ive on them, however unwilling they may be to touch them at 

 first. In the earlier ages, there can be no doubt that acorns, in the countries 

 where they were produced, were tiie food of man ; and they are still, as we 

 have seen, eaten in some [larts of tlie south of Europe, the north of Africa, 

 and the west of Asia. Tiie kinds which produce the acorns most valued 

 for eating are, Q. /'lex, Q. Iin//'>Ui, H. gramuutia, and Q. A'^sculus. The degree 

 of bitterness in acorns, produced by tlie same specie s, varies exceedingly on 

 difft'rcnt trees ; and were any kind of oak to be introduced into orchards as a 

 fruit tree, it would be advisable to select only the best varieties of particular 

 species, and propagate these by grafting. Tiiere are even varieties of Q. 

 /ifobur which produce acorns much less bitter than others ; and we have 

 received some from a tree of this species, in the south of France, which ac- 

 cording to Dralet, are so sweet as to be eaten by the inhabitants. (See Re- 

 cherclics sur Ics Clinics n Glands dou.r, [). 178.) 



The entire tree or shrub, in the case of every species of oak, may be con- 

 sidered as highly ornamental : the least so are the willow-leaved oaks, and 

 the most so the lobed and deeply sinuated leaved kinds. The foliage, even, 

 of the same species, and more especially of the deciduous kinds, varies ex- 

 ceedingly ; not only on different iiulividuaK, but on the same individual at 

 different seasons of the year. In spring, the leaves of many of the decidu- 

 ous kinds are small, delicate, and beautifully tinged with yellow and reil ; in 

 summer, they are broad and green; and in autumn, coriaceous, and of a 

 russet brown, scarlet, or blood-red colour. Nothing can be more remarkable 

 than the variation in the forms of the leaves, in the same individual, in some 

 of the American species; those of the tree, when young, being sometimes 



