249 



N. Ord. CUPULIFER^E. 

 Tribe 



Genus Quercus, Linn. 



249. ftuercus infectoria, Olivier, Voy. dans I'Emp. OIL, ii, p. C-l 



(1800). 



Syn.Q > . lusitanica, var. infectoria, A. DC. Q. rigida, C. Koch. Q. 

 petiolaris, Boiss. 



Figures. Steph. & Gh., t. 152; Woodville, vol. v ; Olivier, Yoy. dans 

 1'Empire Othoman, Atlas, tt. 14, 15, cop. in Nees, t. 94, and Hayne, 

 xii, t. 45; B. &S., t. 296. 



Description. A shrub or rarely a small tree, erect, with irregular 

 spreading branches, bark brownish-grey, the young twigs usually 

 woolly or downy. Leaves alternate, stalked, the petioles varying 

 from very short to J inch long, blade usually 2 3 inches long, 

 broadly oval- or obovate-oblong, rounded at both ends, rather 

 shallowly cut into large, acute or obtuse rounded teeth or lobes, 

 stiff and thick, smooth above, usually with minute scattered 

 stellate hairs chiefly on the nerves beneath ; stipules as in Q. 

 Bobur. Flowers as in the last, but the male catkins shorter, with 

 the axis more hairy, the perianth in 4 7 divisions. Fruit much as 

 in Q. Robur } sessile or stalked, the cup deeper, slightly constricted 

 at the mouth, the scales very much adpressed, ovate-lanceolate, 

 covered with a dense grey tomentum, the glans usually somewhat 

 longer and narrower, reaching as much as 1J inch in length. 



Habitat. This kind of Oak grows in many parts of Asia Minor 

 abundantly, especially in Syria; the same form occurs in Greece, 

 Southern Turkey, and Cyprus. Though we have for the sake of 

 distinction retained Olivier's specific name, we cannot regard 

 Q. infectoria as other than a form of the very variable Q. lusitanica 

 under which indeed all recent writers place it, and which in ope 

 or other of its varieties (twelve are enumerated by De Candolle) 

 ranges through Spain and Portugal, and extends throughout the 

 Mediterranean region. It is almost as polymorphic as Q. Rolur, 



