FAGACEAE 91 



Quercus variabilis Blume. 

 (Q. chinensis Bunge.) 



Tree to 25 m. tall, usually medium sized, with pale gray, furrowed, 

 thick, corky bark. Branchlets pubescent, glabrescent or glabrous. 

 Leaves ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, coarsely serrate 

 with bristle teeth, dark green and glabrous above, densely gray, 

 tomentose beneath, 9-15 cm. long; petiole slender. Fruit matures in 

 second year, subsessile, solitary or occasionally in pairs; acorn sub- 

 globose; cup nearly enclosing the nut; scales thick, lanceolate, recurved. 



Yunnan, Hupeh, Szechuan, Shantung to Japan. Closely allied to 

 Q. serrata from which it differs by the leaves, which are tomentose on the 

 under surface, and by the smaller acorn, in a cup with thicker, shorter 

 scales. The wood is used for general construction and the bark 

 occasionally for floating fish nets. The cupules yield a black dye. 

 Edible fungi are sometimes produced on the decaying wood of this 

 species. 



The chestnut-like foliage is characteristic. 



Quercus mongolica Fischer. 

 (Quercus crispula Blume.) 

 (Q. grosseserrata Blume.) 



Deciduous tree to 35 m. tall. Branchlets and buds glabrous. 

 Leaves membranous, obovate to obovate-oblong, acuminate, cuneate or 

 auriculate at the base, coarsely toothed, with short, broad, obtuse teeth 

 not mucronately tipped, dark green and glabrous above, pale green and 

 glabrous or only slightly hairy along the veins beneath, 10 to 20 cm. long; 

 petiole less than 6 mm. long. Fruit ripening in one year, clustered or 

 solitary, on a short stalk or subsessile; acorn ovoid, about 2 cm. long; 

 cupule embracing about 1/3 the nut, scales ovate, appressed, thickened, 

 tuberculate, slightly fringed at the margin. 



E. Siberia, N. China to Korea and Japan. 



Widely distributed. The timber of vigorous trees is valuable. 



Attempts have been made to differentiate one or more varieties of 

 this species, particularly as Q. mongolica var. grosseserrata by Rehder & 

 Wilson, but these authors admit, and abundant specimens show no con- 

 stantly reliable characters for surely separating the forms or variations. 



