246 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Use. — The white oak furnishes a hard, durable timber for frames of build- 

 ings, axles of carriages, floors, tables, chairs, handles for axes and hammers, 

 wainscoting, panelling, church furniture, shipbuilding, and mill-gearing. 

 The bark is highly charged with tannin, and is a valuable material in the 

 manufacture of leather. The fruit of the Q. alba, which is the sweetest of all 

 the species, is excellent for fattening swine ; the pork thus fatted is said to 



produce the most delicious bacon. 

 The delicate flavor of the Vir- 

 ginia hams is said to be due to 

 the feeding of swine upon acorns. 



2. Q. robur, L. Q. peduncu- 

 lata, Willd. (British Oak.) 

 Trunk 50 feet high and upward 

 to 100 feet; when standing in 

 open grounds it branches low, 

 spreading out so as to form a head 

 whose diameter is greater than 

 the height ; branches crooked, 

 gnarled, and very large ; bark 

 gray and rough ; leaves on short 

 petioles, blade oblong, made up 

 of 3 to 5 unequal pairs of lobes, 

 and a terminal one ; sinuses nar- 

 row, lobes rounded. Fruit ses- 

 sile or on long peduncles, oblong, 

 elongated, brown, buried to one 

 fourth of its length in the hemi- 

 spherical cup, which is clothed 

 with rough imbricated scales. 

 Flowers greenish-white, appear- 

 ing in April. Fruit ripens in 

 September. 



Like all trees that propagate 



themselves by means of their 



seeds, the Quercus robur has run into a great variety of forms, of which the 



following are the most prominent, and may be found growing in the public 



grounds in Washington: — 



Var. sessiliflora. 



Var. pubescens, Lodd. Leaves downy beneath. 

 Var. fastigiata, Lodd. Branches compact and upright. 

 Var. pendula, Lodd. Branches decidedly pendulous, or weeping. 

 Var. heterophylla, Loudon. Leaves varying greatly in size and form ; 

 some lobed, others lanceolate and entire. 



Var. foliis variegatis, Lodd. Leaves variegated with white and red streaks. 

 A beautiful specimen is growing in the public grounds at Washington. 



Var. purpurea, Lodd. Foot-stalks of the leaves tinged with purple, and the 

 leaves when young entirely purple. 



There are many other varieties, but less striking. 



Geography. — The British oak is indigenous to the continent of Europe, and 

 most likely to England. It grows in the south of Europe, the Levant, and 

 northern Africa, 



Quercus robur (British Oak). 



