324 QUERCUS 



Var. AUREA. In spring the leaves of this form of red oak are of a beautiful 

 clear yellow, giving quite as bright an effect from a distance as flowers. To 

 those who admire trees of this character it may be recommended as one of 

 the best. It needs a sheltered spot with an evergreen background. 



In the grounds of Arley Castle (largely planted by Lord Mountnorris 

 about 1820) I saw in autumn a few years ago a number of trees which, in 

 foliage, did not appear to differ from ordinary Q. rubra, except that they were 

 making a very fine display of rich red, which Q. rubra does not make as a 

 rule. Henry (Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, p. 1248) believes these trees 

 to be hybrids between Q. rubra and Q. coccinea, deriving their rich autumnal 

 colouring from the latter. It may be the tree mentioned by various American 

 authors under different names: Q. ambigua (Michaux), Q. coccinea ambigua 

 (Gray), Q. rubra ambigua (Fernald). 



O. SCHNECKII, Britton. 



(Q. texana, Sargent not Buckley?) 



According to American writers, this deciduous oak, a native of the southern 

 and central United States, attains a maximum height of 200 ft., with a trunk 

 8 ft. in diameter. It must, therefore, be about the tallest of all oaks. The 

 leaves are of the typical " red " oak shape, up to 6 or 8 ins. long, obovate, with 

 five or seven sharply pointed, narrowly triangular, sparsely toothed lobes ; 

 dark glossy green and smooth above, at first covered with loose, stellate down 

 beneath, which soon falls away, leaving the surface shining green and smooth 

 except for conspicuous tufts of down in the vein-axils, as seen in Q. palustris. 

 From that species it differs chiefly in the acorns being much longer, proportion- 

 ately to their width, egg-shaped, and up to I in. long. In 1908 some small 

 trees of this oak were introduced to Kew from the Arnold Arboretum, but what 

 is the same tree had been obtained in 1901 from Median's nursery as 

 Q. texana. These young trees have succeeded very well, and turn a beautiful 

 golden brown or rich red in autumn. 



The true Q. TEXANA, Buckley, is a small tree or even shrub found in dry 

 or rocky soil in S. and W. Texas, not in cultivation. 



O. SERRATA, Thunberg. 



A deciduous tree up to 50 ft. high, with a slender trunk ; young shoots at 

 first downy, soon becoming smooth. Leaves oblong or narrowly oval, rounded 

 or broadly tapered at the base, terminated by a slender bristle-tipped point ; 

 each of the twelve to sixteen parallel veins at either side the midrib running 

 out into a bristle-like tooth in. long ; the leaves are 3 to 7 ins. long, i to 2^ ins. 

 wide ; the stalk slender, $ to i^ ins. long ; upper surface smooth and shining, 

 lower surface not so bright and of a paler green, with tufts of down in the 

 vein-axils. Acorns (not seen in this country) small, and half embedded in 

 cups which are covered with long, slender, pointed, downy scales. 



Native of China, Japan, and the Himalaya ; introduced from Japan to 

 Kew by Richard Oldham about 1862. It is a neat and cheerful-looking tree 

 suitable for a limited space. Sargent says that in Japan it springs up on waste 

 land in great numbers, but is only valued as fuel. Silkworms feed on its 

 leaves. Nearly allied to it is Q. variabilis, with a corky bark, the leaves grey- 

 felted beneath, and with shorter teeth. The only other oak with which it is 

 likely to be confused is Q. castanaefolia var. algeriensis, but that may be 

 easily distinguished by its shoots being downy throughout the first season or 

 longer, by the thicker, shorter, quite downy leaf-stalk, and by the absence of 

 the bristly termination to its coarser teeth. 



