Species of Oaks from North-west America. 253 



below ; veins not prominent ; sliortly petiolate, eqnal at base ; 

 length of leaf 1-,^ inch, breadth -"o- inch, length of petiole 

 -jV inch. Fruit sessile, solitary at the end of the branches ; 

 glans ovate and pointed, light brown, covered with a cinereous 

 pubescence ; length 1 inch, diameter ^ inch : cup hemisphe- 

 rical, turbinate, obtuse at base and very small, covered with 

 ovate, convex, appressed scales ; scales abruptly narrowing 

 and terminating in a blunt membranous brown point ; lower 

 portion of the scales tumid and covered with a greenish pubes- 

 cence, largest in the lower whorls, indistinct near the lip ; cup 

 thin, interior greenish white, with a slight whitish glistening 

 pubescence ; glans overtopping the cup fully | of its length ; 

 depth -yV inch, breadth at mouth ^ inch. Flowers unknown. 

 Maturation annual. 



Hah. In gulches in diy situations among the mountains in 

 Southern Oregon, to the height of 2000 feet. 



The specimens, of which the above is the description, were 

 found by me, in Sept. 1865, on the sides of gulches (or deep 

 ravines) in Canon Creek, in Southern Oregon, about 2000 feet 

 above the sea, but fruiting so sparingly that I could only find 

 two specimens in fruit. It is a bush about 3 feet in height, 

 and evergreen, and is " Quercus, sp. {(/), No. 252 " of my 

 catalogue (/. c). Though I have provisionally stated it to be 

 Q. ohhngifolia of Torrey*, I am by no means certain that it 

 is not undescribed. I have seen no specimens of Torrey's 

 plant ; but, judging from the plate he has given {op. cit.) and 

 the description (notwithstanding some discrepancies), it, if not 

 identical with, approaches that species more closely than any 

 other yet described. If identical with that New-Mexican 

 species, the range of Q. ohJongifolia must be extended north 

 twelve degrees. Q. oMongifolia^ De Candolle thinks, is closely 

 allied to Q. grisea^ Liebm., another New-Mexican species. 

 The species, in the form of the leaves, is no doubt allied to Q. 

 agrifolia, Neef, though these are in om- species not so glau- 

 cous ; but it differs widely in the large size of the acorns, in 

 the shape of the cup, and in the form of the scales, and is 

 quite distinct from that very variable species. The whole 

 group of closely allied species, of which Q. agrifolia is the 

 type, is one involved in much obscurity, and requires a tho- 

 rough revision, many forms to which specific importance has 

 been given being nothing more than local varieties, produced 

 by climate, soil, or other causes not so apparent to the senses, 

 and regarding the influence of which we are as yet ignorant. 



* Sitgi'eave's 'Repoi-t of au Expedition down the Zuui and Colorado 

 Rivers,' p. 173, jpl. 10. 



t Anales de Cieucias Naturales, tomo iii. p. 271. 



