143 WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS. 



middle-aged. Well-nigh every district in this country, not too 

 high above sea-level, can show its monster Oak ; but it: is 

 where the soil is close and heavy that it is seen at its best. 

 There is no doubt about the Oak being a true native. Some 

 of our Oak-forests are older than history : such was the forest 

 of the Weald Anderides-leag in which the aboriginal Britons 

 so long withstood the attempts of Romans and English to 

 conquer them, and which at a much later date supplied alike 

 much iron from its quarries and the oak charcoal wherewith to 

 smelt it ; and of which to-day the pedestrian-tourist from 

 London to the South Coast will cross many considerable 

 fragments. How widely it was grown is evident from the vast 

 number of place-names of which it forms part, such as Okham, 

 Ockshott, Ockley, Acton, Acvvorth, Acrington, Okehampton, 

 Oxted, etc. 



Our British Oak is Quercus robur, of which there are 

 several varieties to which some authorities give specific rank, 

 but their characters are too inconstant to be so regarded. 

 However, as they are frequently called by their distinctive 

 names, it were well to mention them and their chief 

 differences. 



White Oak (Q. rolnr^ var. pedunc^tlata) has the leaves slightly stalked or stalk- 

 less, and the acorns with long, slender stalks. 



Red Oak (Q. robur> var. sessili flora] has the leaves borne on long yellow stalks, 

 and the acorns supported on very short stalks, or quite stalkless (sessile). 



Durmast (Q. robitr, var. intermedia)^ with acorns and leaves on short stalks, and 

 the underside of the leaves downy. Spiders are said to object to the wood of this 

 tree, and will not spin their webs where it has been used for building jmrposes. 



The flowers of the Oak are of two distinct sexes. Those 

 bearing stamens are grouped on a long, slender and pendulous 

 catkin ; each consisting of a four- to seven-lobed calyx, within 

 which are ten stamens. The females are solitary and erect, 

 consisting of a cupule, within which is a three- to eight-lobed 

 calyx, a three-celled ovary with three styles. The cupule 

 becomes the familiar " cup " of the acorn, which again is the 



