302 QUERCUS 



tapering or (especially in young plants) rounded at the base and with 

 slenderly tapered, often bluntish points ; i\ to 5^ ins. long, to 2% ins. wide ; 

 the margins entire and undulated ; stalk up to Tin. long, at first downy like 

 the young wood. The upper surface is dark glossy green; lower one dull, 

 yellowish ; veins eight to ten each side the midrib. Acorns crowded on a 

 spike ; cup downy. 



Introduced from Japan by Maries about 1878 to the Coombe Wood 

 nursery, where one of his original plants became a bushy tree over 20 ft. high. 

 It has proved to be perfectly hardy and is a useful evergreen of slow growth. 

 It is only likely to be confused with glabra 



Q. ^EGILOPS, Linn&us. VALONiA OAK. 



This famous oak, which is widely spread in the eastern Mediterranean 

 region, is but little known in this country, although specimens are to be 

 found in the south and west. Its acorn cups are of remarkable size up to 

 I in. deep and 2 ins. in diameter, covered with long, flattish, downy scales 

 and were at one time an important article of commerce owing to the remark- 

 able amount of tannin they contain. Young shoots and leaves downy, the 

 latter oval or oblong, 2 to 4 ins. long, \\ to 2^ ins. wide, with four to six 

 angular bristle-tipped lobes down each margin ; the base usually rounded or 

 heart-shaped. There is a good specimen at Abbotsbury, near Weymouth, 

 which has for many years past borne acorns. At Kew the tree is quite hardy 

 and thriving, but although its acorns form, they never ripen. No other 

 cultivated oak produces acorns so large as Q. ^Egilops. It is, however, allied 

 to Q. Cerris. 



Var. PYRAMI, Boissier (Q. Pyrami, Kotschy). Two specimens of this oak 

 at Kew, 20 to 25 ft. high, are interesting and neat-habited trees of close, 

 rather pyramidal habit. Leaves up to 3 ins. long, obovate, coarsely toothed, 

 often fiddle-shaped through a deep cutting below the middle, glossy green 

 above ; dull grey and stellately downy beneath. Trunk rugged, with deep 

 squarish scales. 



Q. AGRIFOLIA, Nte. ENCENA. 



An evergreen tree up to 80 ft, or more high in California ; young shoots 

 densely covered with starry down. Leaves hard in texture, oval or roundish, 

 heart-shaped to tapered at the base, margined with slender, spiny teeth ; 

 I to 2 ins. long, J to i ins. wide ; dark shining green and smooth above ; 

 paler, not so glossy beneath, and smooth except for tufts of down in the vein- 

 axils ; stalk \ to \ in. long, stellately downy. Acorns cone-shaped, solitary 

 or in pairs, stalkless, about i in. long, in. wide near the base, tapered 

 gradually to a point, the lower third enclosed in a cup which is silvery within, 

 and covered with close, flattened scales without. 



Native of California ; introduced for the Horticultural Society by Hartweg, 

 in 1849 j now very rare. A tree at Kew about 35 ft. high, occasionally bears 

 fruit and is quite hardy. According to Elwes the best tree in the country is 

 at Killerton, and now 45 ft. high. Among cultivated evergreen oaks with 

 spiny toothed leaves it is distinct by reason of the tufts of down in the vein- 

 axils and the tapered, conical acorns. It is an interesting oak, but of no 

 particular merit or distinction. 



Q. ALBA, Linnceus. WHITE OAK. 



The white oak of the eastern and southern United States has no more 

 than a sentimental interest for us in this country, for although, according to 



