1252 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



This species is widely spread, in wet swampy land, along the borders of streams 

 in the Mississippi basin. 



A small tree at Kew, about 12 ft. high, raised from seed sent by Meehan in 

 1 90 1, under the name Q. texana, may be Q. Schneckii; but this species, inhabiting 

 a region which is very hot in summer, is not likely to succeed in England. 



(A. H.) 



QUERCUS AGRIFOLIA, Californian Live Oak 



Quercus agrifolia, Ne, in Ann. Cienc. Nat. iii. 271 (1801); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1894 



(1838); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. viii. m, t. 403 (1895), and Trees N. Atner. 256 (1905). 

 Quercus oxyadenia, Torrey, Sitgreave's Report, 17 2, t. 17 (1853). 



Quercus berberidifolia, Liebmann, in Overs. Dansk. Vidensk. Selsk. Forhandl. 172 (1854). 

 Quercus acroglandis, Kellogg, in Proc. Cal. Acad. i. 23 (1855). 



A large tree, or occasionally a shrub, in California. Bark of young trees thin, 

 smooth ; on old trunks 2 to 3 in. thick, and divided into broad scaly ridges. Young 

 branchlets, with a dense stellate pubescence, either quickly deciduous, or retained 

 till the second year. Leaves (Plate 338, Fig. 57) persistent for two years, coriaceous, 

 \\ to 2 in. long, about 1^ in. broad, ovate or orbicular, acute or rounded at the apex, 

 rounded or slightly cordate at the base ; with seven to thirteen spine-tipped teeth, 

 variable in size ; lateral nerves very prominent, four or five pairs, reaching the 

 margin ; upper surface dark green, shining, glabrescent or with scattered minute 

 pubescence ; lower surface glabrous, with conspicuous reddish brown axil -tufts of 

 pubescence ; petiole \ to \ in. long, stellate-pubescent. 



Fruit, ripening in the first year, sessile or sub-sessile, solitary or in pairs ; 

 acorn elongated, and gradually narrowing to an acute apex, about an inch long, 

 surrounded at the base by a turbinate cupule, about \ in. broad, silky pubescent 

 within, and covered with thin glabrous ciliate scales. 



This species is readily distinguished from all the other oaks with holly-like 

 foliage, by the conspicuous axil-tufts on the leaves beneath. (A. H.) 



In California this is a common oak, extending from Mendocino County south- 

 wards to Lower California, less common in the north, very abundant and attaining 

 its greatest dimensions in the valleys south of San Francisco, where it is the largest 

 and most generally distributed oak on the foot-hills between the mountains and the 

 sea. On the coast it often covers the sandy dunes with its semi-prostrate and con- 

 torted stems, and in a bushy form ascends the dry slopes in the San Gorgonio pass 

 toabout 2800 ft. 



Sargent describes it as a low round-topped tree, sometimes attaining 80 to 90 ft. 

 high, with a thick short trunk from 3 to 6 ft. in diameter, which often divides into 

 great spreading limbs resting on the ground, and covering an area 1 20 to 1 50 ft. in 

 diameter. 



Excepting for fuel the timber is little used, though in the narrative of Van- 

 couver's voyage it is related that some knees were cut in 1 793 from the holly-leaved 



