382 DR. HOOKER ON THREE OAKS OF PALESTINE. 



by Kotscliy to Lebanon specimens. Q. rigicla was fotincled on Caramanian, and Fenzelii 

 on Taurian specimens. 



With tbe exception of Q. CalUprinos, there has been little attempt at diagnostic discri- 

 mination of these species by their several authors ; and the chief characters relied on to 

 separate them — those of form of leaf, and length of the gland and involucre— we found to 

 fail and hold on the same tree in numberless instances. With regard to the other so-called 

 species, long descriptions of some have been published ; but these contain no contrasting 

 characters, and the spequnens show none. Most, if not all, of the forms indicated under 

 the whole seven names may be found in one morning's ride along the crest of Mount 

 Carmel, where the greater number of the series of acorns figured in Plate XXXVII. were 

 collected, all of them from trees which, in habit of growth, foliage, &c., presented little 

 variation. 



Q. pseiiclo-coccifera is by far the most abundant tree throughout Syria, covering the 

 rocky hills, of Palestine especially, with a dense brushwood of trees 8-12 feet high, branch- 

 ing from the base, thickly covered with small evergreen rigid leaves, and bearing acorns 

 copiously. On Mount Carmel it forms nine-tenths of the shrubby vegetation, and it is 

 almost equally abundant on the west flanks of the Antilebanon and many slopes and val- 

 leys of Lebanon. Even in localities where it is not now seen, its roots are found in the 

 soil, and dug up for fuel, as in the valleys to the south of Bethlehem. Owing to the 

 indiscriminate destruction of the forests in Syria, this oak rarely attains its full size. We 

 saw but few very good trees, one of which is the famous Oak of Mamre, called " Abra- 

 ham's Oak," of which I have given a portrait (Plate XXXVI.)*, and I saw other good 

 ones at Anturah on the Lebanon. Leaves and acorns of both these were carefully com- 

 pared with those of the stunted form that grew around them and elsewhere, and presented 

 no difference whatever. 



The " Abraham's Oak " is popularly supposed to indicate the spot where grew the oak 

 or lentisk (for it is disputed which) under which the patriarch pitched his tent ; and is 

 reverenced accordingly by Jews, Mahommedans, and Christians. In general habit it 

 much resembles the Q. Ilex as grown in this country, but does not branch so much from 

 the base ; the bark is similar in colour and Assuring, the branches in direction, and the 

 foliao-e in colour, &c. I would draw attention to the difference shown in the portrait, 

 between the direction of the branchlets on the two sides of the tree : on the west, where 

 exposed to the winds of the Mediterranean, they are much stunted, denser, and more 

 rigid than on the east, where they are more pendulous. 



The diameter of foliage is given, no doubt correctly, by Porter as 90 ft., and girth of 

 trunk as 23 ft. 



In the winter of 1856-57, when, in the streets of Jerusalem (elev. 2200 ft.), the snow fell 

 deep and lay for many days, the accumulation upon the Abraham's Oak was so great, that 

 one of the finest boughs gave way under the weight and fell to tlie ground. Mr. Schembri, 

 the highly intelligent di-agoman, of Jerusalem, informed me that he was employed by 

 Mr. Finn, British Consul, to bring the bough to that city for him. Owing to a superstition 



* " David's Oak," Q. Palcestina, Kotschy, Eichcn, tab. xix. 



