COMMON OAK 



The following is an account of the three species into which the Quercus Robur of 

 Linnaeus has been divided : Quercus pedunculata, Quercus sessiliflora, and Quercus 

 lanuginosa. Brief notes are given also of certain Mediterranean and Oriental forms 

 which are in cultivation. The generic character will be given in another part, with 

 our description of the exotic oaks in cultivation in these islands. Plates 78 and 79 

 show the twigs and buds of the pedunculate and sessile oaks, as well as those of 

 some other species which will be described in a later volume, and the leaves of the 

 three species now treated and of some of their varieties. 



Those wishing to have the latest information on the oak from a physiological 

 point of view are referred to the late Prof. Marshall Ward's work,^ which contains 

 many details on points with which we do not propose to deal. 



Loudon's account of the oak, covering over 100 closely printed pages, is also 

 well worth study, especially with regard to the numerous historical trees, the quality 

 of the timber, and the fungi, galls, and insects which live on or attack the tree. 



QUERCUS PEDUNCULATA, Common or Stalked-Cupped Oak 



iUi?l^j 



Quercus pedunculata, Ehrhait, Beifrdge, v. 161 (1790); l^oudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1731 (1838), 



Boswell Syme, Eng. Bot. viii. 145, tab. 1288 (1868). 

 Quercus Robur, Linnaeus, Sp. PL 996 (ex parte) (1753). 

 Quercus Robur, L., sub-species />^aw/a/'a, DC. Prod. xvi. 2, p. 4 (1864). 

 Quercus Robur, L., y^x. pedunculata. Hooker, Studenfs Flora of the British Isles, ed. 2, 364 (1878). 



A large tree, attaining a height of over 100 feet and a girth of stem of 20 to 

 30 feet, with the main branches large, long, and irregularly bent. 



Bark, when old, irregularly fissured, and gradually increasing to a thickness 

 of two inches or more. Branchlets^in winter stout, glabrous, angled, grey, with a 

 five-angled pith and small semicircular leaf-scars, which are set obliquely on 

 prominent leaf- cushions and show three irregular groups of leaf- traces. Buds 

 brown, clustered at the ends of the twigs, and arranged alternately (in 2/5 order) 

 lower on the twigs, arising at an acute angle; blunt -oval, five -angled, with 

 numerous imbricated scales (in five rows), which are glabrous on the surface and 



The Oak, by H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S. (1892). 

 282 



