438 



Q UE 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



Q UE 



filiform, long, loose ; perianth one-leafed, subquinquefid ; 

 segments acute, often bifid. Corolla: none. Stamina: fila- 

 menta five to ten, very short ; antherse large, twin. Females, 

 sessile in the bud, on the same plant with the males. Calix: 

 involucre consisting of very many imbricate scales, united at 

 the base into coriaceous, hemispherical, little cups ; the outer 

 ones larger, one-flowered, permanent; perianth very small, 

 superior, six-cleft, permanent ; segments acute, surrounding 

 the base of the style, pressed close. Corolla: none. Pistil: 

 germen very small, ovate, inferior, three-celled ; rudiments 

 of the seeds double; style simple, short, thicker at the base; 

 stigmas three, reflex. Pericarp: none. Seed: a nut, (acorn,) 

 ovate, cylindrical, coriaceous, smooth, filed at the base, one- 

 celled, fixed in a short hemispherical cup, which is tubercled 

 on the outside. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix: 

 commonly five-cleft. Corolla: none. Stamina: five to ten. 

 Female. Calix: one-leafed, quite entire, rugged. Corolla: 

 none. Style: one. Stigmas : two to five. Seed: one, ovate. 

 The species are, 



1. Quercus Phellos; Willow-leaved Oak Tree. Leaves 

 deciduous, lanceolate, quite entire; nut roundish. This 

 grows naturally in North America, where they distinguish 

 two sorts ; one of them called the Highland Willow Oak, and 

 grows upon poor dry land : the other grows in low moist 

 land, and rises to a much greater height; the leaves are 

 larger and narrower, but the acorns are of the same size and 

 shape. The difference arises from soil and situation. 



2. Quercus Molucca. Leaves lanceolate, ovate, smooth, 

 quite entire. A large and lofty tree, whose wood is hard 

 and heavy, lasting long under water. It received its trivial 

 name from being found in the Molucca Islands. 



3. Quercus Glabra. Leaves lanceolate-oblong, acuminate, 

 smooth; branches by twos or threes, wrinkled, knobbed, from 

 upright spreading. Native of Japan. 



4. Quercus Acuta. Leaves oblong, cusped, entire; the 

 younger ones tomentose. Brandies knobbed, dotted with 

 white, ash-coloured, smooth, tomentose at the end ; spikes of 

 flowers axillary, ferruginous, tomentose. Native of Japan. 



5. Quercus Glauca. Leaves obovate, acuminate, serrate 

 at the tip, glaucous underneath. This is a very large tree, 

 with axillary flowers. Native of Japan. 



6. Quercus Cuspidata. Leaves ovate, cuspid, serrate, 

 smooth ; branches striated, smooth, spreading ; cal prickly. 

 The acorns are said to be eaten both raw and dressed in 

 Japan, where it is indigenous. 



7. Quercus Serrata. Leaves oblong, serrated, villous and 

 downy, with parallel veins. Native of Japan. 



8. Quercus Dentata. Leaves ovate-oblong, obtuse, gash- 

 toothed, tomentose underneath. Native of Japan. 



9. Quercus Ilex ; Evergreen Holm Oak Tree. Leaves 

 evergreen, lanceolate or oblong, tomentose underneath ; cali- 

 ces ciliate ; nut ovate ; bark even. It usually forms a large 

 bushy tree, but sometimes rises with a straight and naked 

 trunk, and round head, to a great height. There are several 

 varieties, differing greatly in the size and shape of their 

 leaves ; but they will all arise from acorns of the same tree. 

 Some great authorities praise the timber of this tree : Evelyn 

 describes it as serviceable for stocks of tools, mallet heads, 

 chairs, axle-trees, wedges, beetles, pins, and palisadoes in 

 fortifications: it supplies almost all Spain with the best and 

 most durable charcoal. Mr. Boutcher asserts, that these 

 trees soon form warm and lofty hedges, forty or fifty feet 

 high ; but that they should not be planted near the house or 

 in the gardens, because they make a great litter in April and 

 May, when they cast their old leaves. Native of the south 

 of Europe, Cochin-china, and Barbary. 



10. Quercus Gramuntia; Holly-leaved Evergreen Oak Tree. 

 Leaves roundish, ovate, cordate at th base, sinuate, tooth- 

 letted, pungent, waved, tomentose underneath ; antherse 

 roundish. This is rather a small straggling tree, with nume- 

 rous round gray branches, downy when young. It flowers 

 in June. Native of the south of France. 



11. Quercus Ballota. Leaves evergreen, elliptic, tooth- 

 letted or entire, tomentose underneath ; acorn very long. The 

 acorns are eaten, and are palatable both raw and roasted. 

 The wood being compact and very hard, is used for many 

 purposes. Native of Barbary, and probably of Spain. 



12. Quercus Cornea. Leaves oblong-ovate, repand, ser- 

 rate. This is a large tree, with ascending branches. The 

 wood is very hard, heavy, and brown. Native of lofty forests 

 in China, and Cochin-china. 



13. Quercus Concentrica. Leaves lanceolate-ovate^ quite 

 entire, incurved ; calices loose, very short, excavated, with 

 concentrical circles. This is a lofty tree, with ascending 

 branches. Leaves scattered, stalked," smooth on both sides ; 

 acorns oblong-ovate, red. This species seems to resemble 

 the second species in the leaves, yet differs in their curvature, 

 and in the cup. Both it and this, together with the ninth 

 species, afford excellent timber for ship-building, and for all 

 domestic and rural purposes ; but the twelfth is superior to 

 them all for bearing great weights. Native of the lofty 

 forests of Cochin-china. 



14. Quercus Suber; Cork-barked Oak, or Cork Tree. 

 Leaves evergreen, ovate-oblong, tomentose underneath, wav- 

 ed ; bark cloven, fungose. There are two or three varieties 

 of the Cork-tree ; and the acorns are in all of them very 

 like those of the Common Oak. The exterior bark is the 

 cork, which is taken from the tree every eight or ten years ; 

 but there is an interior bark which nourishes them, so that 

 stripping off the outer bark is so far from injuring the trees, 

 that it is necessary to continue them; for when this bark' is 

 not removed, they seldom last longer than fifty or sixty years 

 in health, whereas trees which are barked every eight or ten 

 years will live a century and a half. The bark of a young 

 tree is porous, and good for little ; however, it is necessary 

 to take it off when the trees are twelve or fifteen years old, 

 for without this the bark will never be good. After eight 

 or ten years it will be fit to take off" again; but this second 

 peeling is of little use : at the third peeling the bark will be 

 in perfection, and will continue so for a hundred and fifty 

 years, for the best cork is obtained from old trees. The 

 time for stripping the bark is in July, when the second sap 

 flows plentifully : the operation is performed with an instru- 

 ment like that which is used for stripping Oak. The uses of 

 cork are multifarious : fishermen and liquor dealers cannot 

 carry on trade without it; and probably if persons in the 

 decline of life were to expend upon cork-soles to their shoes 

 the money laid out in snuff and tobacco, they would suffer 

 little or nothing from rheumatic attacks, and live many years 

 longer in this variable climate, besides being less disgusting 

 to the cleanlier members of society. The Germans call it 

 Pantoffel-holts, or Slipper-wood, from rts lightness; but it is 

 its impenetrability by moisture, that makes it so excellent for 

 the soles of shoes. Its lightness, only, caused it to be pre- 

 ferred by the Venetian females, for the silly purpose of ele- 

 vating their heels, in order to ape the stature of the men : 

 this Evelyn seriously calls, " affecting or usurping an arti- 

 ficial eminency, which nature has denied them ; though it 

 rather deserves to be laughed at, than seriously condemned. 

 The poor people in Spain lay broad planks of it by their bed- 

 sides, as carpets to tread upon ; and sometimes they line the 

 walls and insides of their stone houses with this bark, which 



