QUERCUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



QUERCUS. 



667 



Q. MINOR (Post Oak). A tall tree, some- 

 times in its best state 100 feet high, with 

 rough grey bark and deeply incised but 

 blunt pointed leaves. The wood is very 

 hard and durable. N. America. 



Q. NIGRA (Water Oak). A forest tree, 

 though not so tall as other Oaks 80 feet. 

 There is a variety of it in cultivation 

 named nobilis, which has leaves 9 inches 

 or more in length of a rich green. It 

 makes a handsome small tree. In wet 

 and swampy ground, E. and W. United 

 States, also southwards. 



Q. PALUSTRIS (Pin Oak). A forest tree 

 with a maximum height of 120 feet. 

 It is one of the quickest growing Oaks, 

 and its chief beauty is the tender green, 

 almost yellow, of the unfolding foliage 

 in May and rich autumn tints. It 

 soon makes a fine tree, and is one of the 

 best to plant in marshy places, as it 

 grows naturally in such ground. Leaves 

 deeply cut, bright green and smooth. 

 N. America. 



Q. PEDUNCULATA (British Oak). Most 

 valuable of British trees, and most 

 beautiful in old age in many different 

 states alike in wood, park, chase, by 

 rivers, and in pasture land, and one which 

 comes well into the home grounds in 

 its old state, giving noble shade and 

 fine beauty of form, as at Shrubland 

 and in many other places. Botanists 

 give this and the other British Oak 

 under the general term of Q. Robur, 

 but they are wrong, as the Oaks are 

 distinct in form and habit. Of the 

 varieties that differ from the type in 

 growth the most distinct are fastigiata or 

 pyramidalis, which is of much the same 

 style of growth as the Lombardy Poplar, 

 but does not grow so tall. The Weeping 

 Oak (var. pendula] is as weeping as the 

 Weeping Ash, and is a vigorous grower 

 and a beautiful and graceful tree. There 

 are several forms with cut leaves, the most 

 distinct being those namedfilicifolia, or the 

 Fern-leaved Oak, heferaphylla, and scolo- 

 pendrifolia, which has leaves like a 

 miniature Hart's-tongue Fern. There are 

 variegated forms of both the common 

 type and of the Cypress Oak, but they are 

 not so important for landscape effect as 

 the varieties that take a natural colour. 

 As yet we have never seen any variety of 

 Oak as handsome as the wild tree. It is 

 frequently in forests over 100 feet high, 

 giving a great quantity of valuable timber. 

 The leaves fall earlier than those of the 

 Durmast Oak, and are more varied in 

 yellowish and brownish colours at the 

 commencement of growth. 



Q. PHELLOS (Willow Oak). A forest tree 

 80 feet high, and unlike the other Oaks in 

 its foliage, narrow and long like that of 

 a Willow and whitish beneath, giving 

 the tree a silvery appearance on a windy 

 day. It is not a common tree, though it 

 was introduced from N. America in the 



last century. It is of slow growth in 

 cold places and soils, and thrives well and 

 grows rapidly on well-drained light soils, 

 especially in a gravelly subsoil. N. 

 America. 



Q. PLATINOIDES (Swamp White Oak). 

 A large forest tree with flaky green bark, 

 and in its best state reaching a height of 

 over 100 feet, with slightly lobed leaves 

 and the acorns on rather long stalks. It 

 has good, tough, closely - grained wood, 

 and is a native of moist and swampy soils 

 in Canada and west to Michigan. 



Q. PRINUS (Rock Chestnut Oak). 

 Sometimes attains a height of 100 feet, 

 the leaves somewhat chestnut-like, and 

 bearing an edible acorn, in dry soil. 

 Eastern States and Ontario and south- 

 wards. 



Q. RUBRA (Champion Oak). A noble 

 forest tree with a maximum height 

 of nearly 150 feet, and one of the finest of 

 American trees, remarkable for the rich- 

 ness of its autumn tints. It is a fine park 

 tree, and also makes a beautiful shade 

 tree for lawns. It grows best on a free 

 and deep soil, and is much more rapid in 

 growth on moist than on dry soils. Canada 

 and Eastern States. 



Q. SESSILIFLORA (Durmast Oak). The 

 second species of British Oak, and is often 

 included with Q. pedunculata, but is dis- 

 tinct from a planter's point of view, not 

 being so long-lived or quite so noble a 

 tree. It is none the less one of the finest 

 forest trees oi northern countries, and has a 

 straighter and more cylindrical stem and 

 form of tree even than the common Oak, 

 is of a deeper green, denser foliage, and 

 giving better covert and more leaf soil. 

 The leaves a little longer than those of 

 our other native Oak, sometimes, in mild 

 winters, remain on, the tree until the 

 others come. Its area of distribution is 

 slightly different, growing less in plains 

 and valleys than our other Oak, but 

 inhabiting plateaux and slopes of hills 

 and mountains, rising to elevations of 

 3,000 to 4,000 feet, and also different from 

 the common Oak in its thriving on 

 gravelly, sandy, and calcareous soil. The 

 qualities of the wood of the two kinds 

 have been the subject of much discussion, 

 perhaps often confused by the influence 

 of soils. The wood of Q. sessiliflora 

 is generally thought to be less tough 

 and less resisting than that of the common 

 Oak. It has a straighter fibre and finer 

 grain. It has several varieties of little 

 value. 



Q. VELUTINA (Black Oak). A tall tree 

 up to 150 feet, the outer bark a very dark 

 brown with deeply cut leaves with sharp 

 points. It is rare with us and worth 

 a trial from seed sown where we wish 

 it to grow, or from young seedling plants. 

 Northern United States, Canada, and 

 westwards, and also in the soiithern 

 states. 



