THE DECIDUOUS OAKS O.N. 6708 



EVERGREEN, HOLM OR HOLLY OAK 



Quercus Ilex Linn. Fagacese. 



This wood, as in all evergreen Oaks, is hard and heavy, with a very 

 showy silver-grain that is much deeper in colour than the ground fibres. 



Structure, as in the deciduous Oaks (apart from the absence of the 

 prominent pore-ring) although in appearance very different. The sap- 

 wood merges gradually into the heart. 



Transverse section. Boundary, a narrow band of denser wood. 



Parenchyma of two kinds as usual in the Oaks and their allies: (a) im- 

 bedding the vessels, and uniting them to the radial streams, which in 

 this case may extend over many inches of radius without interruption, 

 and (b) concentric and independent of the vessels. These latter zones 

 are numerous and far more apparent than they are as a rule, in the 

 English Oaks. 



Vessels few, but very large. Groups of rather larger ones, which are 

 widely isolated occur here and there in the Spring wood, and sometimes 

 suggest a pore-ring. 



Rays, of two kinds, large and small, the former extremely conspicuous 

 and broad (almost the broadest on record). 



Radial section. Boundaries inconspicuous, but sharp. Silver-grain 

 very prominent and beautiful. 



Tangential section. As the radial, but the rays appear as unsymmetri 

 cally spindle-shaped bodies of irregular size. They seem as though cut 

 up by strands of fibres passing obliquely across them. 



May be confused with: May be distinguished by: 



Deciduous Oaks (prominent pore- Pore-ring absent or at most but 

 ring). feebly indicated. 



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