1882 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTJCETUM. 



PART HI. 



174-9 



Under that parallel, and at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, it is only 40 ft. high ; 

 but it increases in size as it gets farther south, till, on the shores of Lake 

 Champlain, it often attains the height of 60 ft. It was first described by the 

 younger Michaux, and was introduced into England by the Messrs. Fraser, 

 in 1800. From its geographical range, it is evidently fitter for the colder 

 parts of Europe than either the preceding or following sorts. Plants, in the 

 neighbourhood of London, grow vigorously; and, from their very large foliage, 

 make a fine appearance, even when young. This kind must not be confounded 

 with the Q. amblgua of Humboldt, which is a native of Mexico, and a totally 

 different plant (see App. viii. Mexican Oaks) ; nor with a tree marked (in 1836) 

 Q. ambfgua in the Horticultural Society's Garden, which is intermediate be- 

 tween Q. sessiliflora and Q. pedunculata, and may be called Q. Robur am- 

 biguum, as this may be called Q. rubra ambfgua. There are trees of the true 

 North American kind in the Horticultural Society's Garden, of one of which 

 the plate of this species in our last Volume is a portrait. The wood is as 

 coarse and open in its pores as that of the red oak ; but it is stronger and 

 more durable ; and, though unfit for wine casks, it is sometimes employed, 

 in Canada, for the knees of schooners, and other small vessels, and by 

 wheelwrights. As a tree to introduce occasionally in hanging woods in the 

 Highlands of Scotland, along with the British oak, no species can be more 

 desirable than Q. ambfgua. 



% 17. Q. FALCA^TA Michx. The sickle-shaped, or Spanish, Oak. 



Identification. Michx. Quer., No. 16.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 631. ; N. Du Ham., 7. p. 169. : 



Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 

 Synonymes. Q. discolor Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 358.; Q. elongata Willd. Sp. PA, 4. p. 444., 



Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., 5. p. 291., Smith in Rees's Cycl., No. 57. ; Q. lyrata Lodd. Cat., 1836; Q. 



cune^ta Wang. ; Q. triloba Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 443., Michx. Quer., 14. No. 26.; Q. cuneata 



Wang. Forst.: the downy-leaved Oak. 

 Engravings. Michx. Quer., t 28. ; N. Amer. SyL, 1. t. 23. ; and out. figs. 1750. and 1751. 



Spec. Char. t fyc. Leaves downy beneath, sinuated, with three or more some- 

 what falcate bristle-pointed lobes ; the terminal one elongated and jagged. 

 Calyx hemispherical. (Willd.) A tree, varying from 30ft. to 80 ft. high. 

 Introduced, under the name of Q. elongata, in 1763 ; and again, under that 

 of Q. triloba, in 1800. 



Description, $c. This oak is a very remarkable one, from the great differ- 

 ence which exists in its leaves and general appearance, in different climates. 

 This difference is so extraordinary, that nearly all the botanists who have 

 written on the American oaks have supposed it to be two species. In the south- 



