296 CORYLAC'E^E. 



with a large branching and rounded head, and a bark 

 slightly corky or rough. The original tree, at the time the 

 " Arboretum Britannieum" was published, measured se- 

 venty-five feet in height, with a trunk three feet ten inches 

 in diameter at three feet from the ground, the branches co- 

 vering a space of fifty-four feet in diameter. In favourable 

 seasons this tree produces abundance of acorns, from which 

 many plants have been raised ; these, as might be ex- 

 pected, produce a progeny varying greatly in the form 

 of their leaves, but most of them retain their evergreen 

 character in a greater or less degree. 



The Lucombe, or Exeter Oak, is also a sub-evergreen, 

 and was raised by Mr. Lucombe, a nurseryman at Exeter, 

 about 1762, from acorns of the common Cerris, which 

 grew in the nursery, and near to a specimen of Quer. suber. 

 (cork tree), by whose farina it is supposed the blossom 

 of the Cerris Oak was impregnated. 



However closely in form the leaves of the Fulham and 

 Lucombe Oaks resemble each other, these trees, in their 

 habit of growth, are very dissimilar, as the Lucombe 

 instead of the round-headed form of the Fulham variety, 

 always presents a fine pyramidal outline, and the bark is 

 also much rougher and more corky, showing its nearer rela- 

 tionship to the Quer. suber. It grows freely and with great 

 rapidity, and in some instances has attained a height of 

 upwards of eighty feet in seventy years. To perpetuate 

 the original variety, it must be grafted upon the common 

 cerris, for although it ripens acorns in abundance, these 

 being the produce of a hybrid cannot be depended on as 

 certain to come true to their parent. Several fine varieties, 

 however, have been raised from its acorns, some of which 

 show a still nearer approach to Quer. suber. than the parent 

 tree, the bark being still more corky, and the evergreen 



