1740 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICKTUM. PART III. 



informs us, is from a genuine tree of Q. |)p<lunculiita, although in some of its rliaracters 

 it apparently approacla-s li. sensilitlbra. I'erhaps it may be a hybrid between tlie two 

 species ; for which reason we have called it (i. s. hj'brida. (See fig. 157'J.) 



Some Other remarkable varieties, mentioned by Mr. Borreras having been 

 seen by him in Devonsliire, will be found in a suecceding page, under the 

 head of Gcois^mplii/. 



Q. pedunculata and Q. scssiliforn, tliongh sufficiently distinct to be consi- 

 ilcred species, yet, being very generally found growing together in a wild state, 

 ant! being used indiscriminately for all the purposes to which the oak is ap- 

 plicable, may be most conveniently treated of together. We might, indeed, 

 in giving their description and geograi)hy, treat of them separately ; but, in 

 the history and statistics of the two trees, this woidd be impossible ; since 

 it is not known, at this moment, whether the largest and the oldest oaks 

 of Britain belong chiefly to ^j. i)ediniculata or to <^. sessiliflora. We shall 

 first notice the doubts which exist among botanists as to the species to 

 which the term Rohur was applied by the ancients; and then proceed to 

 treat of (I. pedimculata and Q.. sessiliflora conjointly, under the name of the 

 British Oak. 



Q. RtV;«r. The word 7?6bur, according to some, is taken from robus, the 

 obsolete form of rubeus, red ; which, as Burnet observes, woidd seem a fit 

 name for the red-wooded oak. Festus Pompeius says (lib. i.), " Materiam 

 qua; plurimas venas rufi coloris habet robur dictam." According to others, 

 7^")bur is applied to the oak from robur, strength, in allusion to the quality 

 of the wood; and this we think the more probable derivation. Much doubt 

 has been entertained by botanists as to what species or variety the term 

 i?6bur was apjilied to by Pliny. That author says (lib, xvi. c. 8.) : — 

 " Glans optima in querci'i, atquegrandissima, mox esculo ; nam roboris parva ; 

 cerro tristis, horrida, echinato calice, seu castaneae :" that is, " the largest and 

 best acorn is that of the Quercus, next that of the £'sculus ; for that of the 

 i^obur is small ; and then that of the Cerris, rough, and covered with a bristly 

 calyx, like the chestnut." From this passage Secondat arrives at the follow- 

 ing conclusion : that the Quercus of Pliny is the chene blanc (Q. pedunculata 

 Willd.) ; the ^'sculus, the chene male {Q. sessiliflora Sm.) ; and the /?6bur, the 

 chene noir (Q. Tauzin Pers.). Willdenow, and most other Continental bota- 

 nists, suppose the i?obur of the ancients to have been Q. sessiliflora; but Smith, 

 and other English botanists, consider Q. pedunculata to be the tree referred to. 

 Liunajus included both sorts under the specific name of iifobur; seeming to 

 regard them as varieties of each other. His definition is so framed that it will 

 include both species: — " Q. Kobur, foliis deciduis, oblongis, supcrne la- 

 tioribus : sinuhus acutioribus : angulis obtusis." The distinctive characters 

 of petiolated and subsessile leaves, of pedunculated and sessile acorns, 

 &c., are entirely omitted ; and, when the more acute observations of subse- 

 quent botanists again led to their separation, the subspecific synonymes, 

 longo pediculo, and brcvi pediculo vcl sessiliflora, by which as varieties they 

 had been previously known, became the specific names of Q. pcdiuicidata and 

 Q. sessiliflora. The classic adjunct 7?6bur, under which Linnaeus included 

 both species, was restrained by Smith to the first, and was by Willdenow 

 given to the second ; and while Willdenow has been followed by the Con- 

 tinental botanists. Smith has been followed by those of Britain. The wood 

 of Q. pedimculata is whitish, varying to drab; that of Q. sessilifltira, whitish 

 brown, varying to amber; while tiiatof Q. Tauzin is much darker than either, 

 so much so that the French call it chene noir. Burnet, confounding the 

 wood of the Q. Tauzin with that of Q. sessiliflora var. pubescens, says : — 

 " The wood is of a deep reddish brown, very like that of old chestnut. 

 Hence 1 cannot but agree with Martyn, that this is the true liohnr of 

 the ancients ; and, if the Linnican varieties are to be elevated to the rank 

 of species, to this the appellation i^obur umioubtedly belongs." (Aninvt. 

 Quer.f fol. 3.) Burnet, finding that Pliny describes the quality of the wood 



