90 CHINESE ECONOMIC TREES 



L. megaloplylla Rehder & Wilson from Szechuan appears to be rare. 

 L. viridis (Schottky) Rehder & Wilson is another species common in 

 Western China. 



QUERCUS 



Trees or shrubs. Buds usually clustered at the ends of the twigs, 

 scales numerous, imbricated in 5 ranks. Leaves alternate, stalked, entire, 

 toothed or lobed, deciduous or persistent. Flowers monoecious, or 

 dioecious, apetalous. Staminate flowers in slender catkins from axils of 

 leaves or scars of the previous year, numerous, with 4-7 lobed calyx; 

 stamens with slender filaments, 4-6, rarely more. Pistillate flowers few 

 and inconspicuous, solitary or in a few flowered spike, enclosed in an 

 involucre of imbricated scales; calyx 6 lobed; ovary 3-5 celled; ovules 2; 

 style 3-5. Fruit a rounded nut (acorn) marked with a pale scar at the 

 base, more or less surrounded by a scaly woody cup, 1 seeded. 



About 250 species, widely distributed in the whole world, a large 

 number occurring in China. The genus consists of evergreen or deciduous 

 trees with alternate, entire, dentate, lobed or cleft leaves and oval or 

 rounded nuts more or less surrounded at the base by a scaly, woody cup. 

 The nuts or acorns require 1 or 2 years to mature. The oaks, for the 

 most part, are hardy, long lived trees producing valuable timber. The 

 wood of most species is tough, strong and durable, valued for many uses, 

 notably for shipbuilding, house construction, cartwrighting, furniture 

 and interior finish. The bark of several species is used for tanning, 

 that of a Mediterranean species (Q. suber) yields the cork of commerce. 

 The nuts of several species are edible. In China silkworms are fed on 

 the leaves of several oaks. Several fungi growing on the oaks are edible. 

 Some of them are cultivated on saplings felled for the purpose. The oaks 

 are propagated by seeds. Transplanting is difficult on account of the long 

 tap root. 



The seeds should be sown as soon as ripe, preferably in the autumn, 

 in the place where they are expected to grow. Where spring sowing is 

 practiced, the acorns should be stratified in moist sand over winter. 

 Germination sets in about 5 weeks after sowing in the spring. The tap 

 root of the seedling must be partly removed before transplantation. One 

 year old transplants are suitable for setting out in the permanent forest. 



The evergreen oaks are especially difficult to transplant successfully. 



