1 268 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



QUERCUS jEGILOPS, Valonia Oak 



Quercus /Egilops, Linnaeus, Sp. PL 996 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1861 (1838). 



Quercus ithaburensis, Decaisne, in Ann. Nat. Sc. iv. 348 (1835). 



Quercus graca, Kotschy, Eichen, t. 30 (1862). 



Quercus macrolepis, Kotschy, Eichen, t. 16 (1862); A. de Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 45 (1864). 



Quercus Ungeri, Kotschy, Eichen, t. 13 (1862). 



Quercus Vallonea, Kotschy, Eichen, t. 7 (1862); A. de Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 45 (1864). 



A tree, attaining in the Levant, in good moist soil, about 80 ft. in height, but 

 seldom reaching more than 30 to 40 ft. in arid situations. Bark deeply divided into 

 small square scaly plates. 



Young branchlets covered with a dense greyish tomentum, persistent in the 

 second year. Buds ovoid -prismatic, about \ in. long, tapering to an acute or 

 rounded apex, tomentose, usually surrounded by long linear pubescent stipules. 

 Leaves (Plate 335, Fig. 19) deciduous late in autumn or in the following spring, 

 3 to 4 in. long, and i| to 2 in. broad, oval or oblong ; base usually broad and 

 rounded, occasionally cuneate, subcordate, or auricled ; apex acute ; with five or six 

 pairs of lateral nerves, prominent beneath, each ending in a large triangular bristle- 

 pointed tooth or lobule ; leaf margin and bristles ciliate ; upper surface shining, with 

 scattered short stellate pubescence ; lower surface covered with a grey short tomen- 

 tum, occasionally more or less deciduous between the nerves ; petiole, \ to 1 in. 

 long, tomentose. 



Fruit ripening in the second year, sub-sessile, usually solitary ; acorn sub- 

 globose and scarcely exserted or cylindrical and projecting, f to \\ in. long, 

 depressed and whitish tomentose at the apex, chestnut brown and glabrescent else- 

 where ; cupule \ to 2 in. broad, variable in the shape and consistence of the scales, 

 but broadly distinguishable into two varieties, which are connected by numerous 

 intermediate forms. 



1. Var. macrolepis (var. grceca). Cupule hemispheric ; scales loosely super- 

 posed, thin and ligulate, tomentose, \ to \ in. long, spreading or erect, often 

 recurved. This form is prevalent in Greece and the adjoining islands. 



2. Var. Ungeri (var. ithaburensis). Cupule sub-globose ; scales fewer, 

 thickened, pyramidate, tomentose, \ to \ in. long, spreading or erect, sometimes 

 recurved. This form is prevalent in Asia Minor. 



Quercus Pyrami, Kotschy, Eichen, t. 3 (1862), which is often considered to be 

 a variety of this species var. Pyrami, Boissier, Fl. Orientalis, iv. n 72 (1879) 

 differs considerably in foliage and is quite distinct for purposes of cultivation. As 

 seen at Kew, where it is a small tree about 20 ft. high, the leaves (Plate 335, Fig. 20) 

 are smaller, about 2^ in. long and i^ in. broad, often indented below the middle 

 with a deep sinus on one or both sides ; lateral nerves six to eight pairs ending in 

 short mucronate teeth. According to Kotschy, Q. Pyrami grows in the plain of 

 Cilicia, forming large woods at the mouth of the river Pyramus. (A. H.) 



