1932 ARBORKTUM A N IJ FKUTICETU AI. I'ART III. 



ever, (il/or/. Trav.: Palestine.) who has collected the opinions of all these 

 authors, doubts the correctness of all of them; observiufr, " If it be anything 

 more than u fable, it must have been a production peculiar to that part of 

 Palestine, or it would not have excited such general attention. It is possible 

 that what they (Tacitus and Josephus) describe may have originated, like the 

 oak galls in this countrij, in the work of some insect." A. B. Lambert, Esq., 

 liaving received some of these far-famed apples (" Mala insana") from the 

 mountains east of the Dead Sea, whence they had been brought by the Hon. 

 Robert Curzon, read an account of them before the Linnsean Society, proving 

 them to be galls of a species of oak containing an insect. No description is 

 given by Mr. Lambert of the insect ; but Mr. Westwood, who furnished this 

 article, states that it belongs to the family Cynipidae, and is infested para- 

 sitically by a species of the family /chncumonidae. Mr. Lambert, by some 

 accident, was led into the supposition that the Dead Sea apples are identical 

 with the galls of commerce {Linn. Tranis., xvii. p. 446.) ; but 

 this is not the case. Olivier, in speaking of this insect, and the if^", 

 gall produced by it, says that both differ from those of the ~ 

 tauzin oak (Q. pyrenaica: see fig. 1697. p. 1842.); and that ibS.) 



the insect (fig. 1825.) has a body of brown and fawn-colour mixed, with the 

 antennae blackish. (Trav., Eng. ed. 2., p. 43.) 



Q. Libuni Oliv., t. 49. f. 2., N. Du Ham., 7. p. 167. t. 49. f. 2., and 

 OUT Jig. 1826., has the leaves on petioles, oblong, smooth, shining, and den. J~^ 1 826 



tated, with mucros at tlie points of the teeth. The acorns are of a round- 

 ish oval, a little hollow at the summit. The scales of the calyx are placed 

 close together, and scarcely imbricate. The branches are of a reddish 

 brown, and perfectly glabrous. This oak, which bears some resemblance 

 in its leaves to those of the chestnut, was discovered on Mount Lebanon by 

 Olivier, who sent home specimens of it to Dc^fontaines. The leaves are 

 perfectly glabrous on both sides, shining, and of a lively green above; 

 and the teeth are distinctly marked by a sharp and conspicuous mucro. 

 The acorns are sessile, or on very short peduncles ; the nut is large, de- 

 pressed, rather hollow at the summit, and enveloped for more than 

 half its length in a cup, the scales of which are rather soldered together 

 side by side, than imbricated : the centre of each only is a little pro- 

 minent, like those of the cones of some kinds of pine. (A'. Du Ham.) 

 It does not appear that living plants of this species have ever been 

 brought to Europe. The figure in the Noiweau Du Hamel, of which 

 ours is a reduced copy, was taken from a dried specimen in the herbarium of Desfontaines. 

 From the appearance of the cup, this would seem a very distinct species. 



(J. rigidn Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 434., N. Du Ham., 7. p. 161., Kees's Cycl., No. 36. ; .' /'lex acu- 

 leata, kc, Toum. Cor., 4(). Leaves oblong, undivided, with spinous serratures, smooth ; glaucous 

 beneath; heart-shaped at the base. Footstalks bearded at the summit. Scales of the calyx rigid, 

 ."spreading. {IVilld.) A native of the coast of Caramania, in Asiatic Turkey. The branches are 

 pale brown, dotted. The leaves are oblong, 1 in. or more in length, rigid, with spiny serratures ; 

 deep green and shining above ; glaucous beneath ; heart-shaped at the base. Footstalks very short, 

 smooth, but furnished on each side with a line of brownish hairs, which is carried on up the midrib 

 of the leaf. The acorn is sessile ; and the calyx is beset with rigid, woodv, lanceolate, spreading scales. 

 <i. iberica Stev. in Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat Mosc, 4. p. 70. M. a., Bieb. Fl. Taur.-Cauc, 2. p. 402. 

 No. 1913., 3. p. 620. Leaves ovate-oblong, downy beneath, sinuated ; lobes short, blunt, somewhat 

 serrated; serratures blunt. Fruit almost sessile. Scales of the cup mucronate. {Eichwald PhuiliC 

 Caspico-CaucasiciP, 2. p. 40. t. 38.) A native of Georgia and Imirctia. Bark smooth, not corky, 

 greyish. I'etioles 2 — 4 lines long, somewhat downy or glabrous, semicylindrical. Leaves from 

 1 in. to I J in. long, and from 2 in. to 3 in. broad ; obovate-oblong, acute ; truncated at the base, some- 

 what arrow-shaped ; glabrous above ; densely covered with white tomentum beneath ; sinuated ; lobes 

 short, somewhat ovate, obtuse, or rather acute, somewhat serrated ; serratures blunt. Male flowers 

 disposed in aggregate catkins, 2— 5 springing from one bud ; lateral, slender, interrupted. Rachis 

 thread-like, pubescent. Perianth deeply 5— 6-cleft; the divisions linear, ciliated. Stamens 5—10. 

 Female flowers unknown. {Ibid., 2. p. 41.) 



Q. castancafdiia C. A. Meyer. Bark smooth. Leaves on footstalks, oblong-lanceolate; hairy 

 beneath; thickly serrated ; serratures somewhat mucronate. Cups sessile, solitary, hemispherical. 

 Scales linear-lanceolate, thickly imbricated the contrary way. Nut oblong-cylindrical. A tree, a 

 native of Mazanderan, near the town of Baifrush. A very distinct and beautiful species. Bark of 

 the branches and twigs membranaceous (never corkv), vellow, warted. Petioles^ in. to 1 in. long, 

 slender, somewhat glabrous ; flat above, convex beneath. '.Smaller leaves 2^ in. long, and P to 10 lines 

 broad ; larger ones 4 in. to 4i in. long, and 1 J in. to li in. broad ; all of them oblong. lanceolate, round, 

 and frequently unequal, at the base, more or less pointed, thickly serrated ; serratures blunt, iminted 

 with small mucros (scarcely i a line long) ; shining above, rarely covered with stellate down ; hairy 

 beneath from minute stellate down, ash. coloured ; veins parallel, prominent, having long hairs at 

 their axils. Male flowers not seen. Cups lateral or terminal, .sessile, hemispherical, 8 to 10 lines in 

 diameter; clothed in the inside with coi)ious, soft, simple hairs ; externally, with numerous, downy, 

 linear-lanceolate scales, about 3 lines long ; and, towards the base, 1 line broad, all of them more or 

 less pointe<l, rigid, imbricated the contrary way. Nut 1^ in. long, cylindrical, 3 or 4 times as long as 

 the cup ; thickish at the base, blunt at the apex ; mucronate, smooth, reddish brown. {Eichirald 

 J'lanta: Cnspico-Caiicasicie, 1. p. 9. t. 1. ; and out fig. 1827.1 



Q. tnongSlicn Fisch. A rare species, indigenous to tlie banks of the Argun in Tartary, and 

 .apparently of diminutive growth. 'I'here have been plants since 18;!.') in the Flotbeck Nin'series. 

 which apijoar perfectly hardy. (Itnol/i.) We trust that in Ks.'!.^, or even before, this species will be 

 introduceil into F.nglanil. 



