CHAP. CV. 



CORYLACEJE. QUE'rCUS. 



1889 



Goldworth Arboretum. The specimen trees at Messrs. Loddlges's, and one 

 in the Milford Arboretum, were equally beautiful before they were severely 

 cut in, to give more room to the surrounding plants. 



X 20. Q. Catesb^V Willd. The barren Scrub Oak. 



Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 446. > Pursh Fl. Araer. Sept., 2. p. 630. : Michx. Qucr. No. 17 : 



N. Du Ham., 7. p. 172. ; Smith in Kees's Cycl., No. 62. 

 Synonymes. Q. ribra Abb. and Smith Ins.,\. p. 27. ; Q. E'ic\x\i dlvlsOra, &c.. Cat. Car., 1. t. 23 

 Engravings Michx. Quer., t. 29, 30. ; Cat. Car., 1. t. 23. ; and our.^^*. 1762, 1763. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves smooth, oblong, wedge-shaped at the base, deeply 

 and widely sinuated, on short stalks ; lobes 3 or 5, divaricated, acute, 2- or 

 3-cleft, bristle-pointed. Calyx of the fruit turbinate, half as long as the 

 nut. ( Willd.) A shrub or low tree, from 15 ft. to 30 ft. high. Introduced 

 in 1823. 



Description, ^c. The general appearance of this tree is stunted : its trunk 

 is crooked, dividing into branches at 2 ft. or 3 ft. from the ground, and covered 

 with a thick, blackish, deeply furrowed bark. The foliage is open, and its 

 leaves are large, smooth, thick, and cori- 

 aceous towards the close of summer, 

 deeply and irregularly laciniated, and 

 supported on short petioles. "With 

 the first frost, they change to a dull red, 

 and fall the ensuing month. The acorns 

 are pretty large, of a blackish colour, 

 and partly covered with a fine grey dust, 

 which is easily rubbed off between the 

 fingers : they are contained in thick 

 cups, swollen towards the edge, with the 

 upper scales bent inwards. The oldest 

 trees alone are productive, and their 

 fruit never exceeds a few handfuls." 



(uV: Amer. Syl., i. p. 86.) According « 



to the younger Michaux, this oak is confined to the lower part of the 

 Carolinas and Georgia. It grows in soils too meagre to sustain any other 

 vegetation, where the light movable sand is wholly destitute of vegetable 

 mould. It is the only species multiplied in the pine barrens ; and from this 

 circumstance, and its scrubby habit of growth, 

 it has probably obtained the name of the barren 

 scrub oak. The elder Michaux says that it is 

 sometimes found from 30 ft. to 40 ft. high. 

 The leaves vary very little, as will be seen by 

 fig. 1763., in which a represents a seedling of 

 one year's growth, and b a leaf from a plant 

 two years old. This oak, though not intro- 

 duced till 1823, is supposed to be the one "^^^^VA 

 figured in Catesby's Carolitia, which he calls the ^^^ 111 

 red oak with small pedunculated acorns, and 

 describes as follows : — " Bark dark, thick, and 

 strong, preferable for tanning. Wood coarse 

 and spongy. The acorns vary much in shape ; 

 and the leaves retain no certain form, but sport 

 into various shapes, more than those of other 

 oaks." (Catesb. Carol., i. p. 23.) He adds that the wild pigeons assemble 

 in such numbers on this oak, that they sometimes break down the branches, 

 and leave their dung some inches thick under the trees. The elder Mi- 

 chaux says that Catesby has confounded this tree with Q. rubra ; which 

 is probably the case, as his description accords much better with that species, 

 than this tree. The wood of Q. Catcsbfc'i is considered excellent as fuel ; and 

 it bears a higher price than that of any other oak in America for that purpose. 



6 G 2 



