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XXIII. On Three Oaks of Palestine. By J. D. Hooker, M.D., F.E.S., F.L.S., ^c. 



Read June 20th, 18(J1. 



DURIXG a short tour in Syria, which I made last autumn in company with Mr. Han- 

 bury, F.L.S., we paid especial attention to the oaks of that country which occurred on our 

 route, in the hopes of being able to throw some light on their very intricate and confused 

 history. The brief nature of our visit, and the necessity we were under of moving rapidly 

 almost daily, and always on horseback, rendered it impossible to do more than obtain an 

 accurate idea of the commonest species only : of these one was all but ubiquitous, from 

 the latitude of Tripoli to that of Hebron ; and two others appeared in such great abun- 

 dance in various localities, that we have, I think, obtained a clear conception of their 

 limits of variation in Syria, and, by means of the specimens we procured, have identified 

 them with those of other parts of the Mediterranean. There are Querctis psendo- 

 coccifera, Desf., Q. JEgilops, L., and Q. infectoria, L., of which three species I find that 

 no fewer than thirteen have been made in Syria alone, and an equal, or probably a much 

 greater number in Asia Minor and other parts of the Levant. 



To the following identifications I have been guided either by good specimens or by 

 excellent plates, amongst the very best of both kinds of which evidence I would especially 

 indicate the Syrian and Taurian collections of Kotschy, and his superb folio fascicles 

 entitled " Die Eichen Europa's und des Orients," the plates of which are unrivalled. 



1. QuEBCUs psEtJDO-cocciFERA, Desf. Atlant. ii. p. 549. 



Q. Calliprinos, Webb! It. Hisp. p. 15 ; Kotschy, Herb. It. Cilic. No. 397; Willd. Sp. PL iv. 

 p. 434. 



Q. Pseudo-coccifera ? Kotschy, Herb. It. Syriac. No. 265 ! 



Q. inops, Kotschy, fid. Herb. Reg. Berol. Lebanon, No. 83 ! 



Q. echinata, Kotschy, fid. Herb. Reg. Berol. Lebanon, No. 84 ! 



Q. PaliBstina, Kotschy, I. c. t. xix., et Herb. It. Syriac. No. 442 ! 



Q. Aucheri, Jaub. et Spach, 111. PI. Or. p. 11.3, t. 58 ! 



Q. rigida, Willd. Sp. PI. iv. p. 435 ; Kotschy, I. c. t. viii., et Herb. It. Cilic. No. 404 ! 



Var. Kotscliyi, Herb. It. Syriac. No. 264 ! 



Var. microphylla, Kotschy, It. Cilic. No. 399 ! 



Var. pungens, It. Cilic. 400 ! 806. 



Var. arborea. Herb. It. Cilic. No. 403 ! 

 Cf. Q. Fenzelii, Kotschy, I. c. t. xxiv. et Herb. It. Cilic. No. 398 ! 

 Cf. Q. aquifolia, Kotschy, Herb. It. Cilic. No. 402 ! 

 Hub. Per totam Syriam, ad 6000 ped. ascendens ; copiosissime ! Fl. vere ; fr. Nov. 

 Dist. Hispania ! et Lusitania ! Italia ! Algeria ! Cephalonia ! Grascia ! Asia minor ! Creta ! 



Of the above synonyms, Q. inops, echinata, and Palcestina were founded on Syrian 

 specimens by Kotschy ; that of Calliprinos by Webb, who attempted to discriminate 

 Labillardiere's original Syrian specimens oi pseudo-coccifera, from Desfontaines' Algerian 

 plant of that name. The names of pseudo-coccifera and Calliprinos are also both applied 



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