1740 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



informs us, is from a genuine tree of Q. pedunculata, although in some of its characters 

 it apparently approaches Q. sessiliflbra. Perhaps it may be a hybrid between the two 

 species ; for which reason we have called it Q. s. hybrida. (See fig. 1579.) 



Some other remarkable varieties, mentioned by Mr. Borrer as having been 

 seen by him in Devonshire, will be found in a succeeding page, under the 

 head of Geography. 



Q. pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora, though sufficiently distinct to be consi- 

 dered species, yet, being very generally found growing together in a wild state, 

 and being used indiscriminately for all the purposes to which the oak is ap- 

 plicable, may be most conveniently treated of together. We might, indeed, 

 in giving their description and geography, treat of them separately ; but, in 

 the history and statistics of the two trees, this would be impossible ; since 

 it is not known, at this moment, whether the largest and the oldest oaks 

 of Britain belong chiefly to Q. pedunculata or to Q. sessiliflora. We shall 

 first notice the doubts which exist among botanists as to the species to 

 which the term .Kobur was applied by the ancients; and then proceed to 

 treat of Q. pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora conjointly, under the name of the 

 British Oak. 



Q. ~Robur. The word Robur, according to some, is taken from robus, the 

 obsolete form of rubcus, red ; which, as Burnet observes, would seem a fit 

 name for the red-wooded oak. Festus Pompeius says (lib. i.), " Materiam 

 quae plurimas venas rufi coloris habet robur dictam." According to others, 

 JKobur is applied to the oak from robur, strength, in allusion to the quality 

 of the wood ; and this we think the more probable derivation. Much doubt 

 has been entertained by botanists as to what species or variety the term 

 Robur was applied to by Pliny. That author says (lib. xvi. c. 8.) : 

 " Glans optima in quercii, atque grandissima, mox esculo ; nam roboris parva ; 

 cerro tristis, horrida, echinato calice, seu castanea3 :" that is, " the largest and 

 best acorn is that of the Quercus, next that of the JE"sculus ; for that of the 

 .Kobur is small ; and then that of the Cerris, rough, and covered with a bristly 

 calyx, like the chestnut." From this passage Secondat arrives at the follow- 

 ing conclusion : that the Quercus of Pliny is the chene blanc (Q. pedunculata 

 Willd.) ; the ^sculus, the chene male (Q. sessiliflora Sm.) ; and the Robur, the 

 chene noir (Q. Tauzin Pers.). Willdenow, and most other Continental bota- 

 nists, suppose the Robur of the ancients to have been Q. sessiliflora; but Smith, 

 and other English botanists, consider Q. pedunculata to be the tree referred to. 

 Linnaeus included both sorts under the specific name of Robur ; seeming to 

 regard them as varieties of each other. His definition is so framed that it will 

 include both species : " Q. Robur, foliis deciduis, oblongis, superne la- 

 tioribus : sinubus acutioribus : angulis obtusis." The distinctive characters 

 of petiolated and subsessile leaves, of pedunculated and sessile acorns, 

 &c., are entirely omitted ; and, when the more acute observations of subse- 

 quent botanists again led to their separation, the subspecific synonymes, 

 longo pediculo, and brevi pediculo vel sessiliflora, by which as varieties they 

 had been previously known, became the specific names of Q. pedunculata and 

 Q. sessiliflora, The classic adjunct .Robur, under which Linnaeus included 

 both species, was restrained by Smith to the first, and was by Willdenow 

 given to the second ; and while Willdenow has been followed by the Con- 

 tinental botanists, Smith has been followed by those of Britain. The wood 

 of Q. pedunculata is whitish, varying to drab ; that of Q, sessiliflora, whitish 

 brown, varying to amber ; while that of Q. Tauzin is much darker than either, 

 so much so that the French call it chene noir. Burnet, confounding the 

 wood of the Q. Tauzin with that of Q. sessiliflora var. pubescens, says : 

 " The wood is of a deep reddish brown, very like that of old chestnut. 

 Hence I cannot but agree with Martyn, that this is the true Robur of 

 the ancients ; and, if the Linnaean varieties are to be elevated to the rank 

 of species, to this the appellation 7?6bur undoubtedly belongs." (Ai(rn. 

 Quer., fol. 3.) Burnet, finding that Pliny describes the quality of the wood 



