AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



461 



Nymphaaacesa 



The order comprise 

 species. Examples 

 Victoria. 



continued. 



s eight genera and about thirty- five 



: Cabomba, Nelumbium, Nymphcea, 



NYSSA (from Nyssa, a water-nymph ; in allusion to 

 the habitat of some of the species). Tupelo-tree. OED. 

 Cornacece. A small genus (five or six species) of mostly 

 hardy trees or shrubs, inhabiting the North-eastern, 

 temperate, and warmer parts of America, also the 

 Eastern Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, and the 

 Malayan Islands. Flowers small, at the apices of the 

 axillary peduncles, in crowded heads or shortly racemose. 

 Drupe oblong. Leaves alternate, petiolate, entire, or the 

 younger ones dentate-lobed. The species are not much 

 grown in this country; their chief attraction is the in- 

 tense deep scarlet colour which the leaves assume in 

 the autumn. Nyssas thrive best in low, damp, moist 

 situations, such as peat swamps. Propagated by im- 

 ported seeds, and by layers. 



N. capitate (capitate). Ogechee Lime, /..sterile ones capitate ; 

 fertile ones solitary, on very short peduncles. Jr. an oblong drupe, 

 red. I. large, shortly-stalked, oblong, oval, or obovate, mucro- 

 nate or acute, tomentose beneath. Swamps of South United 

 States. Small tree. 



N. multiflora (many-flowered), fl. greenish ; fertile peduncles 

 lim. to 3in. long, slender, three to eight-flowered. May. 

 fr. dark blue, ^in. long. I. rather thick, dark green, oval or ob- 

 ovate, mostly acute, tomentose when young, at length shining 

 above, 2in. to 5in. long, turning bright crimson in autumn. 

 h. 30ft. to 50ft. North America, 1824. SYN. N. villosa. 



N. villosa (villous). A synonym of N. multiflora. 

 NYSSACE2E. Synonymous with Cornaceae. 



OAK. Oak is the name indiscriminately given to any 

 member of the large genus Quercus, which contains about 

 300 species, principally distributed over the temperate 

 regions of the Northern hemisphere. Within the tropics, 

 in America, Oaks occur on the mountains as far South as 

 Columbia, and, in Asia, to the Malayan Archipelago. The 

 genus is entirely absent from Africa (except the Mediter- 

 ranean region), Madagascar, Australia, the South Sea 

 Islands, &c. ; and, so far, no Oaks have been found in New 

 Guinea. Whether looked at from the standpoint of number 

 of species, or from the value of a large number of them 

 from a purely commercial point of view, the genus Quercus 

 is by far the most important one in the family Cupuliferce. 

 As a forest-tree at any rate, in the British Isles the 

 common Oak is that which undoubtedly occupies the first 

 place. For landscape effects, too, on a large scale, the 

 massive, rugged stems and twisted branches furnish an 

 element of picturesqueness which is unique in character. 

 Several of the exotic species, however, far surpass our 

 native one in the brilliancy of the colours assumed by the 

 decaying leaves in autumn, as well as in the rate of 

 growth ; many of the evergreen and sub-evergreen ones, 

 too, are amongst the most beautiful of hardy trees. The 

 British Oak (Quercus Robur) is found both in Europe and 

 Asia, almost up to the Arctic circle. As might naturally 

 be expected with such an extended geographical distribu- 

 tion, there are very many forms, some of which differ 

 markedly from any found in this country. Of these 

 latter, the two principal are pedunculata, with sessile 

 leaves and long peduncles, and sessiliflora, with stalked 

 leaves and very short peduncles. For convenience of 

 reference, these forms are accorded specific rank under 

 Quercus, and the principal garden forms are de- 

 scribed under each. 



The great age attained by the Oak is proverbial; the 

 age of some of the famous old trees the Cowthorpe Oak, 

 for example has been estimated at 1800 years. That just 

 mentioned is, or was, the largest Oak in England. In 

 the " Gardeners' Chronicle," n. s., vol. xvi., p. 134, the 

 following particulars are given respecting this tree. It 

 may, however, be better to state that the Oak in question 

 is growing near Wetherby, in Yorkshire, but that its ruins 



Oak continued. 



only now remain. The circumference at 3ft. from the 

 ground, in 1776, was 48ft. The height of the tree as a 

 ruin was 85ft. ; in 1880, the writer of the article on 

 " Tree Lore," from which the above data are gleaned, 

 noticed that the old tree still had a few green leaves. 

 The following quotation was given in a Nottingham 

 paper, two years ago, in reply to inquiries respecting 

 "the present condition of the trees of Sherwood Forest." 

 The information is contained in an article by Mr. W. 

 Senior, in Cassell's " Picturesque Europe," on " The 

 Forest Scenery of Great Britain," in which that writer 

 states, that at Welbeck there is the Greendale Oak, 

 which is estimated by one authority to be 700, and 

 by another 1500, years old. " This Oak is probably 

 the Methusaleh of his race, although it may be noted 

 that there are few forests which do not, through 

 their local historians, advance plausible claims for a 

 like distinction. The Greendale Oak, nearly 150 years 

 ago, was deprived of its heart by the eccentric desire 

 of a former owner to make a tunnel through the 

 trunk. This novel piece of engineering was effected 

 without any apparent injury to the tree ; an opening 

 was made, through which a Duke of Portland drove 

 a carriage and six horses, and three horsemen could 

 ride abreast. This arch is 10ft. 3in. high, and 6ft. 3in. 

 wide. A cabinet, made from the excavated Oak wood, 

 for the Countess of Oxford, is one of the curiosities 

 of Welbeck Abbey (the seat of the Duke of Port- 

 land). It is ornamented with a representation of this 

 grand old tree, which is now shored and supported 

 against the elements, before which it must, ere long, 

 succumb. The Spread Oak of Thoresby extends its arms 

 over 180ft. of ground, and can give shelter to 1000 horse- 

 men. In the hollow of Major Oak, seven persons have 

 dined with comfort; and that, of course, is impossible 

 without unrestricted elbow-room. This tree is remark- 

 ably perfect in form, the true type of a sturdy Oak that 

 is still prepared to brave the battle and the breeze." 



It would be out of place here to dilate upon the value 

 of English Oak; but the following data respecting its 

 durability may be of interest. In the Museum No. 1 

 at Kew is a block of Bog Oak, a portion of a tree 

 found below the Roman (Hadrian's) Wall, in cutting 

 the canal from Carlisle to the Solway Firth, in 1823. 

 According to Bruce's " Roman Wall," a quantity of 

 posts and rails were made of the trunks, and used for 

 fences. There is also a portion of a pile of old London 

 Bridge apparently as sound as it was the day it was 

 first worked taken up in 1827, after having been in 

 use about 650 years. Amongst other interesting speci- 

 mens is a part of an Oak beam from the Council Chamber 

 in the White Tower, Tower of London; this is supposed 

 to be coeval with the building of the Tower of London 

 by William Rufus, and the adze-marks of the woodmen 

 or builders of that period are distinctly visible. 



Cork is obtained from the thick bark of Quercus Suber, 

 a common South European Oak. Kermes is the insect 

 which yields a scarlet dye nearly equal to cochineal, and 

 is the " scarlet " mentioned in Scripture ; it feeds on 

 Q. coccifera, an Oak from Asia Minor, &c. The acorn 

 cups of Q. JZgilops are largely imported from the Levant 

 for the purposes of tanning, dyeing, and making ink. The 

 Oak Galls of commerce are yielded by Quercus infectoria, 

 also a native of the Levant ; these are much more rich in 

 tannin than those produced in this country. See also 

 Quercus. 



Insect Pests. The number of these is legion. In 

 Kaltenbach's " Pflanzenfeinde," there are 537 species of 

 German insects recorded as living, more or less, on 

 Oaks, and the number might be largely increased were 

 the compilation continued up to the present date. Many 

 of them, it is true, live habitually upon other trees, 

 and on shrubs, only occasionally attacking Oaks, and 



