158 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
grain or flower (terms used by carpenters and others to signify the medullary rays 
of botanists) possessed by the wood of the durmast in comparison with that of 
the other kind. On this account the wood of the durmast has frequently been con- 
founded with that of the sweet chestnut, and for this reason it is less valuable for the 
purposes of the cabinet-maker than the wood of Q. pedunculata, in which the silver 
grain is much more conspicuous. The timber of the durmast has been stated, on insuf- 
ficient grounds, to be less durable than that of the common oak. The wood of these 
trees, when stained green by the growth of a peculiar fungus, Peziza cwruginosa, is 
highly prized by cabinet-makers and workers in Tunbridge ware. 
The genus Quercus yields several other valuable forest trees besides those of our 
own islands. Quercus suber, a native of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, fur- 
nishes cork. In Lindley’s “ Treasury of Botany ” it is stated that “the false sandal- 
wood of Crete is the produce of Q. abelicea.” There are many Japanese oaks, the 
timber of which is splendid. Q. finctoria, a North American species, yields quercitron 
bark, employed for dyeing yellow. We have mentioned the acorn-cups produced by 
Q. Zgilops, and imported into this country as @ dye. Quercus Ilex is an evergreen 
species much cultivated in Great Britain, but liable to suffer from our severe frosts. 
The galls of Q. infectoria are considered the best in commerce, and the same tree also 
furnishes the galls known as Mecca galls, which are supposed to be the Dead Sea 
apples or apples of Sodom, the fruit that never comes to ripeness, so pleasant to the 
eye, so bitter to the taste. In the midland counties of England there is always much 
speculation as to whether the leaves of the oak or of the ash will appear first, as the 
following proverb is implicitly relied on :— 
“1f the oak’s before the ash, 
Then you'll only get a splash ; 
Tf the ash precedes the oak, 
Then you may expect a soak.” 
Considering the different habits of the two trees, there may be reason in the rhyme. 
The oak sends its roots deep into the soil, and its leafing is advanced or retarded by a 
warm or cold spring. The roots of the ash are nearer the surface, and so a wet spring 
hastens its growth, while a dry one would retard it. Rain, moreover, does not affect 
the oak so much as it does the ash. A curious phenomenon is sometimes presented 
by the oak, which is mentioned by Mr. White in his “ Natural History of Selbourne.” 
We hear, in country districts, of “ raining trees,” especially of “raining oaks,” and 
Mr. White accounts for the fact in this way: “In heavy fogs, in elevated situations 
especially, trees are perfect alembics, and no one who has not attended to such matters 
can imagine how much water one tree will distil in a night’s time by condensing the 
vapour, which trickles down the twigs and boughs, so as to make the ground below 
quite in a float. In Newton Lane, in October 1775, on a misty day, a particular oak 
in leaf dropped so fast that the cartway stood in puddles, and the ruts ran with water, 
though the ground in general was dusty.” 
GENUS I.—CASTANEA. Tourne. 
Male flowers in long rather slender interrupted stiff catkins, with 
catkin scales and bracteoles at the base of each of the glomerules of 
which the catkin is composed: scales combined into a cuplike floral 
perianth (?) with 5 or 6 segments: stamens 8 to 12, inserted on a 
