Quercus heterophylla in the Clove Valley^ 



Arthur Hollick 

 (with plate 4) 



On August 13, 1917, Mr. Frank Allatt, of 358 Forest Avenue, 

 Ijrought to the museum for identification some oak leaves that 

 were typical Quercus heterophylla Michx. I casually remarked 

 to him, " You have evidently been collecting in the vicinity of 

 Tottenville " ; but to my unbounded surprise he stated that the 

 leaves had been collected from a tree growing in the vicinity of 

 Clove Lake, and at my request he made a rough map of the 

 locality for guidance in locating it. Within a few hours I was 

 out there with the map and had no difificulty in finding the tree. 

 It is about fojrty feet high, symmetrical and well proportioned, 

 with a trunk four feet three inches in circumference (about i ft. 

 4 in. diameter) at a distance of two feet above the ground. 



On September 12 the tree was again visited, in company with 

 Mr. William T. Davis, Mr. Howard H. Cleaves, and Mr. Alex- 

 ander Gershoy of the New York State College of Agriculture. 

 Photographs were taken by Mr. Davis and Mr,. Cleaves. (Plate 

 4.) On September 16 Dr. N. L. Britton also accompanied me 

 on a visit to the tree. 



The presence of the tree in this locality represented what at 

 first appeared to be a problem for which no reasonable explana- 

 tion could be suggested. The only other known specimens of its 

 kind on Staten Island are those in the vicinity of Tottenville, 

 distant about twelve miles, and the theory that an acorn could 

 have been transported that distance by any natural agencies and 

 had fortuitously germinated in the Clove Valley, seemed an 



1 Presented at the meeting of the Section of Natural Science April 13, 

 1918. 



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