Common Oak 297 



of Hoy, Orkney, and the acorn from which It sprang must have been brought from 

 the mainland by a rock-dove or rook. 



Remains of oak are found in all the later geological deposits ; in the pre-glacial 

 deposits in the Cromer forest-bed ; in inter-glacial deposits in Hampshire, Sussex, 

 Hertford, Middlesex, and Suffolk; in neolithic deposits; common in "submerged 

 forests" everywhere; at the base of peat-mosses in many localities (ascending in 

 them up to looo feet in Yorkshire).^ Mr. S. B. J. Skertchley describes^ the growth 

 of five successive oak forests in the valley of the Ouse, and considers the oldest of 

 them to be some 70,000 years old. These forests spread downwards towards the 

 fen till checked by water and peat moss, the latter eventually burying and preserving 

 them. The trees in thousands lie to the north-east, having been blown down by the 

 south-west, which is still the prevailing wind. The word oak occurs in place-names 

 both of Celtic and Saxon origin, the Saxon forms in names being ac, oak, wok, 

 and auch. These forms are illustrated by names like Auchley, Auckland, Acworth, 

 Wokingham, Oakingham, Oakham, Oakfield, Oakley, Martock, Holyoak, and Selly- 

 oak. The Gaelic name is dair, as in Derry, Edenderry, Ballinderry, Kildare, Adare, 

 Darnock, Kildarragh, Auchindarroch, Craigandarroch. 



Quercus pedunculata, according to Willkomm, occurs throughout the greater part 

 of Europe, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus. Its northern limit reaches, on the west 

 coast of Norway, 62° 55', on the eastern side of Norway 60" 45', in Sweden 60°, in 

 Finland 61° 30' at Bjorneborg and 60° at Helsingfors, then passes along the coast of 

 Esthonia to St. Petersburg, and crosses Russia south of Jaroslav and Perm, then 

 descends southwards, reaching the Ural river between Orenberg and Orsk, and 

 descends along that river to Iletzkoi. Its distribution in the Caucasus and Asia 

 Minor is not known with exactness, owing to the conflicting opinions about the oaks 

 of these regions. In Europe it occurs as far south as Greece, Sicily, and in the 

 Peninsula reaches its southern limit in the Sierra Morena range. The western limit, 

 beginning at the western part of this range, includes the northern part of Portugal 

 and Galicia, and continues up along the coast of France, ending in Ireland and 

 Scotland. It is essentially a tree of the plains and low hills, but it ascends in 

 Southern Scandinavia to 993 feet, in the Berne Oberland to 2530 feet, in the Tirol 

 to 3160 feet, in the Jura to 2216 feet, and in the Pyrenees to 3300 feet. 



It is, according to Max von Sivers,^ a much scarcer tree than it formerly was 

 in the Baltic Provinces of Russia, and only exists in pure forests of any extent in 

 Kurland, where it attains in river valleys and loamy soil very large dimensions, 

 as much as 9 metres (about 30 feet) in girth. Some of the best trees produce logs 

 free from branches over 60 feet long and 5 feet in girth at the top. He attributes 

 its comparative scarcity at present to over-felling during the last two centuries, but 

 states that replanting has been recently carried on to some extent. 



Quercus sessiliflora occupies a more restricted area than the other species. 

 Its northern limit is 60° 11' in Norway, 58° 30' in Sweden; it then passes through 

 east Prussia, Lithuania, and crosses the central provinces of Russia, Minsk, Mohilev, 



1 C. Reid, Orisin 0/ the Bn'tish Flora, 145 (1899). 2 Fcniand, Past and Present, chap. xv. (1S78). 



•■ Die Forstlichen Verhdlinisse der Baltischen Provinzen, 1903. 



II O 



