CHAP. CV. 



QUE'RCUS. 



1879 



that time it has, perhaps, been more generally planted than any other of the 

 American oaks, though full-grown specimens of it are not very numerous. 

 The largest which we know of near London, is at Syon, where it is 57 ft. 

 high ; and the largest in England is at Strathfieldsaye, where it is 100 ft. high. 

 Several trees in the neighbourhood of London, and particularly one at Purser's 

 Cross which is upwards of 40 ft. high, ripen acorns, from which young plants 

 have been raised. The wood is so coarse and porous as to be of scarcely any 

 use in the arts. It is, however, employed in America for the staves of flour and 

 sugar casks, or to contain 

 any kind of dry goods. The 

 bark contains a large pro- 

 portion of tannin, and is 

 very extensively used by 

 tanners in the United 

 States. The acorns are 

 voraciously eaten by wild 

 animals, and also by the 

 cows, horses, and swine that 

 are allowed to range in the 

 woods after the herbage has 

 perished. Papilio (Thecla) 

 FavonhwAbb.and Smith, t. 

 14., and our j%. 1745., the 

 brown hair-streak butterfly, 

 feeds on the leaves of this 

 species. 



Statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, it is 57 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., 

 and of the head 55ft. ; in the Fulham Nursery, and at Purser's Cross, it is 40ft high. There are 

 various other trees of nearly similar dimensions ; but as, from the description sent to us, we have 

 been unable to determine whether the tree belongs to Q. rubra or Q. coccinea, we have not 

 inserted them under the statistics of either species. In Hampshire, at Strathfieldsaye, it is above 

 100ft. high, with a trunk 3ft. 6 in. in diameter; it grows in a deep rich loam, on the flat bank of 

 the river Loddon : in Wiltshire, at Longleat, 70 years planted, it is 50 ft. high ; the diameter of the 

 trunk 2ft. 2 in., and of the head 54ft: in Radnorshire, at Maeslaugh Castle, 44ft. high; the 

 diameter of the trunk 3 ft., and of the head 45 ft. In Scotland, in Aberdeenshire, at Gordon Castle, 

 20ft. high, with a trunk 6 in. in diameter. In Ireland, at Castletown, 30ft. high, the diameter of 

 the head 38 ft. ; in Fermanagh, at Florence Court, 30 years planted, it is 32ft. high, the diameter 

 of the head 30ft. In France, at Rambouillet and other places, are many fine trees, varying 

 from 40ft. to 60ft. in height, both of Q. rubra and Q. coccinea. (See Card. Mag., vol. xi. p. 42.) 

 Bosc mentions a superb tree at the Petit Trianon, of which, however, we have not been able to 

 procure the dimensions. In Brittany, at Barres, 14 years planted, it is 14ft. high; near Nantes, 

 90 years old, it is 40ft. high, with a trunk 4ft. in diameter. In Saxony, at Worlitz, 60 years old, 

 it is 50 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft 6 in. in diameter. In Austria, at Vienna, at Laxenburg, 26 years 

 old, it is 25 ft. high ; diameter of the trunk 10 in., and of the head 18 ft. In Prussia, at Berlin, in 

 the Botanic Garden, 50 years old, it is 60ft. high ; the diameter of the trunk 3ft., and of the head 

 28 ft. In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 50 ft. high ; the diameter of the trunk 

 6 in., and of the head 24 ft. 



15. Q. COCCI'NEA Willd. The scarlet Oak. 



Identification. Wang. Forst., p. 44. ; Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 199. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. 446. ; 



Ait. Hort Kew., 5. p. 292. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 630. ; Michx. Quer., No. 18. ; N. Du Ham., 



7. p. 171. ; Smith in Rees's Cycl., No. 61. 

 Sunonyme. Q. rubra (3 Ait., ed. 1., 3. p. 357. 

 Engravings. Wang. Forst., t. 9. ; Michx. Quer., t. 31, 32. ; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t. 25. ; our Jigs. 1746, 



1747, and 1748. ; and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char. $c. Leaves smooth, oblong, deeply and widely sinuated, on long 

 stalks ; lobes divaricated, acute, sharply toothed, bristle-pointed. Calyx of 

 the fruit turbinate, half as long as the nut. (Willd.) A tree, 80ft. high. 

 Introduced in 1691. 



Description, fyc. The scarlet oak is, in America, a tree of more than 80 ft. 

 high, with a trunk 3ft. or 4 ft. in diameter. The tree is of a more rigid habit 

 of growth than Q. rubra, the branches of which are very flexible. The bark 

 is dark-coloured, entire, and very thick ; and the wood is reddish and coarse- 

 grained, with very open pores. The leaves, which have long petioles, are 

 of a beautiful green, shining on both sides; and, on old trees, laciniated in 

 a very remarkable manner, having usually four deep sinuses on each side, very 

 broad at bottom. The leaves begin to change with the first cold, and, after 



