849 



fruit has sufficient edible quality to be available at 

 least as stock food. 'The only other oaks that approxi- 

 mate it in size', according to Dr. William Trelease of the 

 University of Illinois, who directed the attention of the 

 American Genetic Association to the species, 'are a close 

 relative, Q. stronibocarpa , of the same region, and a Guate- 

 malan black oak, Q. skinneri, the latter apparently an 

 equally large tree, and with acorns two inches in diameter 

 but presumably bitter or astringent like our own black 

 acorns.' The nuts of the Q. insignis are usually about two 

 inches in diameter but may reach two and a half inches. 

 Their weight is from 50 to 65 grams each. In view of its 

 range, the tree is naturally to be supposed unsuited to a 

 temperate climate, but Dr. Purpus writes, 'I think it a 

 very useful tree which could be raised in Florida, Cuba, 

 Porto Rico, etc.' If it is found to be well adapted, it 

 is possible that native species of oaks could in some 

 cases be grafted over with the more productive new one, 

 thus yielding a large crop of acorns with very little 

 trouble or care. Hybridizing experiments should also be 

 tried with some of the best North American oaks, with a 

 view to seeing whether the size of their acorns cannot be 

 increased." (Journal of Heredity, vol. 5, no. 9, p. 406.) 



Tamarix pentandra Pallas. (Tamaricaceae . ) 39692. Seeds 

 of a tamarisk from the Tiflis Botanic Garden, Tiflis, The 

 Caucasus. Presented by the Director. "A deciduous shrub 

 or small tree, ultimately from 12 to 15 feet high, or up- 

 wards, with long, slender, plumose branches. Leaves very 

 small, pointed; the largest one-eighth inch long, arranged 

 at intervals along the flowering shoots; the smallest one- 

 fifth as large, and crowded fifty or more to the inch. 

 Flowers arranged densely in slender, sometimes branching 

 racemes, 1 to 5 inches long, each tiny blossom one-eighth 

 inch across, rosy pink; they cover the whole terminal part 

 of the current year's shoot, which is this transformed 

 during August into a huge plume-like panicle of blossom as 

 much as 3 feet long. Sepals, petals, and stamens, all five 

 in number. Native of southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, 

 especially on the banks of tidal rivers. This beautiful 

 tamarisk is quite hardy, and one of the most pleasing of 

 late-flowering shrubs. It should be planted in groups 

 large enough for its soft rosy plumes to produce an effect 

 in the distance. To obtain it at its best, it is neces- 

 sary to cut it back every winter almost to the old wood. 

 It then sends up the long slender branches which flower 

 for six weeks or so in August and September. It is propa- 

 gated with the greatest ease by making cuttings, 6 to 9 

 inches long, in early winter of the stoutest part of the 

 season's growth, and putting them in the ground out-of- 



