Q UE 



QUE 



QUEEN'S GILLIFLOWERS. See Hes- 

 PERIS. 



^UERCUS, a genu? furnishing plants of the 

 forest deciduous evergreen ornamental tree-kinds. 



It belongs to the elass and order Mo/ioccia 

 Po/yi/idria, fEiuwandria Monogynia, Octandria 

 TftragyniaJ, and ranks in the'naturai order of 

 -^mcntacecc. 



The characters are : that in the male flowers 

 the calyx is a filiform ament, long, loose : peri- 

 anth one-leafed, subquinqucfid : segments acute, 

 often bifid : there is no corolla : the stamina 

 have from five to ten filaments, very short : an- 

 thers large, twin ; females sessile in the bud, on 

 the same plant with the males : the calyx is an in- 

 volucre, consistingof very many imbricate scales, 

 united at the base into coriaceous hemispherical 

 little cups ; the outer ones larger, one-flowered; 

 permanent: perianth very sma!l,superior,six-cleft, 

 permanent : segments acute, surrounding the base 

 of the style, pressed close : there is no corolla : 

 the pistiilum is a very small germ, ovate, infe- 

 rior, three-celled : rudiments of the seeds double: 

 style simple, short, thicker at the base : stig- 

 mas three, reflex : there is no pericarpium : the 

 seed is a nut (acorn) ovate-cylindrical, coriaceous, 

 smooth, filed at the base, one-celled, fixed in a 

 short hemispherical cup tubercled on the outside. 



The species cultivated are: — 1. Q. Rohur, 

 Common Oak Tree ; 2. Q. Phellos, Willow- 

 leaved Oak Tree ; 3. Q. Primis, Chestnut-leaved 

 Oak Tree ; i. Q. nigra, Black Oak Tree; 5. Q. 

 rubra, Red Oak Tree ; 6. Q. alba , White Oak 

 'I'ree; 7. O. esndiis, Italian or Small Prickly- 

 cupped Oak Tree; B.Q.MgUops, Great Prickly- 

 cupped Oak Tree; 9. Q. Cerris, Turkey Oak 

 Tree; 10. Q. Ilex, Evergreen or Holm Oak 

 Tree; U. Q. G.ramuntia, Holly-leaved Ever- 

 green Oak Tree; ]'2. Q. Sid^er, Cork-barked 

 Oak, or Cork Tree; 13. Q. cocci/era, Kermes 

 Oak Tree. 



The first is well known, and attains a very 

 great size, but slowly. In woods it rises to 

 a very considerable height, but singly it is ra- 

 ther a spreading tree, sending oflf horizontally 

 immense branches, which divide and subdivide 

 very much. The trunk is covered with a very 

 rugged brown bark. The leaves alternate, ob- 

 long, blunt, and broader towards the end ; the 

 edges deeply sinuate, forming obtuse or rounded 

 lobes, dark greea antl shining above, paler un- 

 derneath and finely netted, five inches or more 

 in length, two and a half in breadth :. they are de- 

 ciduous, but often remain o-n the tree till the new 

 buds are ready to burst. A native of Europe. 



There are several varieties; a.- with the acorns 

 on long peduncles. This i? found in the wilds 



of Kent and Sussex, where there are many large 

 trees. The leaves are not so deeply sinuated, 

 nor arc they so irregular, but the indentures are 

 opposite; they have scarce any footstalks, but sit 

 close to the branches : but the acorns stand up- 

 on very long footstalks. The timber of this 

 sort is accounted better than that of the common 

 oak, and the trees have a better appearance. 



The Broad-leaved Evergreen Oak, which grows 

 upon the Apennines, and also in Suabia and- 

 Portugal. The leaves are broader and not so 

 deeply sinuated as those of the eonunon oak ; 

 they are of a lighter green on their upper side, 

 and pale on their under, have very short foot- 

 stalks, and their points are obtuse; the acorns 

 have very long footstalks, which frequently sus- 

 tain three or four in a cluster. 



The Dwarf Oak, which grows in the South of 

 France and Italy, and is a low bushy oak, 

 rises but six or seven feet high, sending out 

 many slender branches the whole leuorth. The 

 leaves are oblong and obtusely indented, about 

 three inches long, and an inch and half broad, 

 standing upon slender footstalks ; the acorns 

 small, growing in clusters. 



There are also many other varieties of cornmon 

 oak which dealers in timber and woodmen distin- 

 guish by their use, qualities, and accidents, and 

 to which they give difierent names ;. but these be- 

 ing merely local, and not founded on permanent 

 characters, it is difficult to ascertain them. 



The second species grows naturally in North 

 America, flowering in May and June. There thev 

 distinguish two sorts, one of which is called 

 The Highland Willow Oak, and grows upon 

 poor dry land; the leaves are of a pale green and 

 entire, shaped like those of the willow tree. The 

 acorns are very small, but have pretty lar^ecups.. 



The other grows in low moist laiid, and rises 

 to a much greater height: the leaves are lander 

 and narrower, but the acorns are of the same 

 size and shape.. It is suggested, as proljable, 

 that their di.fierence may be owing to the soil in 

 which they grow. Martyn observes, that the 

 latter becomes a large timber tree, and that there 

 are said to be several varieties of it. 



The third species has seemingly two varieties, 

 one of which grows to a much larger tree than, 

 the other; but this maybe occitsioned by the 

 soil, foe the largest trees grow in rich low 

 lands, where they become bigger than any of 

 the North American Oaks. The wood is not of 

 a very fine grain, but is very serviceable ; the 

 bark is gray and scaly ; the leaves are five or 

 six inches long, and two inches and a half broad 

 in the middle, indented on the edges with many 

 transverse veins running from the midrib to the 



