Quercus 1229 



narrow slightly raised scaly ridges. Young branchlets slender, reddish brown, 

 glabrous or glabrescent. Leaves (Plate 339, Fig. 75) deciduous, thin, membranous, 

 lanceolate, 2\ to 5 in. long, about \ in. wide, gradually narrowing at both ends, 

 glabrous except for slight pubescence along the midrib beneath, entire or slightly 

 undulate in margin, with a single bristle point at the apex ; venation pinnate, the 

 primary veins dividing and looping with those adjoining before reaching the margin ; 

 petiole \ to \ in. long, pubescent. The leaves are revolute in the bud ; and on 

 young specimens are dentate or lobed. 



Fruit ripening in the second year, sessile or with short stalks, usually solitary ; 

 acorn subglobose or hemispherical, pale pubescent, enclosed at the base by a thin 

 saucer-shaped cupule, \ in. wide, silky pubescent on the inner surface, and covered 

 externally by thin ovate truncate hoary pubescent scales. 



This oak is supposed to form hybrids with several species, as Q. imbricaria, 1 

 Q. marylandica, 2 Q. ilicifolia, 3 Q. cuneata* and Q. palustris? none of which are in 

 cultivation in this country. Under the name Q. heterophylla (see p. 1233) a tree is 

 occasionally cultivated, which probably includes hybrids of Q. Phellos, with Q. rubra 

 and Q. velutina. 



The willow oak inhabits the banks of marshes and streams, and grows also in 

 deep sandy tracts in the uplands ; and, according to Sargent, is distributed from 

 Staten Island, New York, through the Atlantic states, where it is usually confined 

 to the maritime plain, as far southward as north-eastern Florida, extending west- 

 ward through the Gulf states to the Sabine river, Texas, and ascending the lower 

 Mississippi basin, through Arkansas and south-eastern Missouri to central Tennessee 

 and southern Kentucky. 



According to Catesby, this tree was introduced about 1723, when it was grow- 

 ing in the garden of Mr. Fairchild at Hoxton. It appears, from the singularity of 

 its leaves, to have early attracted considerable notice ; and Loudon mentions several 

 trees of large size, some of which still survive. (A. H.) 



It seems to succeed better in England than most of the American oaks, except 

 Q. rubra and Q. palustris ; and, though a lover of moisture in its own country, grows 

 well in dry situations, as on gravel soil at Kew. So far as we know, however, none 

 of the trees in cultivation have produced acorns. 



The largest we have seen is at Whitton, which was mentioned by Loudon as being 

 70 ft. high by 7^ ft. in girth in 1838. It is now very large, about 100 ft. high by 12 ft. 

 4 in., but its trunk is attacked by fungus, and though the branches produced healthy 

 foliage in 1905 it is evidently decaying rapidly. At Kew there are two fine healthy 



1 Q. imbricariax. Phellos, Zabel, Laubholz-Benennung, 65 (1903) ; Q. Phellos, var. subimbricaria, De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 

 2 > P- 63 (1864). Found by Asa Gray in New Jersey. Leaves entire, broader and more obtuse than those of Q. Phellos, differ- 

 ing from Q. imbricaria in the deciduous pubescence on the under surface. This is included by Sargent under the next hybrid. 



2 Q. Phellos*. marylandica, Sargent, Silva N. Amer. viii. 181, t 437 (1895) ; Q. Rudkini, Britton, in Bull. Torrey Bot. 

 Club, ix. 13 (1882). Trees, discovered in 1 88 1 near Cliffwood in New Jersey, and subsequently seen in other parts of New 

 Jersey and on 'Staten Island. Leaves trilobed at the apex ; acorns intermediate between Q. Phellos and Q. marylandica. 

 Dr. MacDougal (Bot. Gaz. xliii. 53, fig. 4 (1907)) raised seedlings, all of which bore foliage like that of the parent tree. 



8 Q. Phellos x ilicifolia, Peters, in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xx. 295 (1893). A tree found at May's Landing, New Jersey. 

 4 Cf. Small, in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xxii. 74, fig. 232 (1895). 



* Q. Phellos y. palustris, Schneider, Laubholzkunde, 165 (1904): Q. schochiana, Zabel, loc. cit., and Mitt. deut. dend. 

 Ges., 1896, p. 9. 



