NOVEMBER 277 



the leaves of young plants and the lower branches of old 

 ones are exceedingly like those of the holly leathery, 

 varnished, spined, and evergreen. It possesses, too, the 

 strange property of the holly in arming with prickles 

 those leaves which are within browsing reach, while 

 those on the upper branches are as smooth as those of 

 a camellia. A native of Japan, it is quite hardy hi our 

 climate, and is a common ornament of gardens in 

 Rome, though you shall not see it in one British 

 shrubbery out of a thousand. It belongs to a family 

 the Oleacece which furnishes us with many favourites 

 the privet, phillyrea, flowering ash, forsythia, and 

 lilac. 



LXIII 



What has become of the old durmast oak, the 

 noblest variety (some botanists make it a The best 

 separate species) of the British oak? It Of0aks - 

 is the native oak of the Lake district, of Wales, and 

 part of Scotland, and is distinguished from the oak of 

 Southern England by having footstalks to the leaves 

 and none to the acorns, whence its specific name 

 sessiliflora ; the southern form (Quercus pedunculata) 

 has footstalks to the flowers and acorns and none to the 

 leaves. Besides these characteristics, the northern oak 

 has a bolder, freer growth, and more beautiful foliage ; 

 the timber is of equal value to that of pedunculata ; 

 and in damp or cold districts it ripens its young wood 

 far more regularly. This makes it a much more 

 valuable tree for the forester than the southern 



