480 LXxn. CUPULIFEE^. [Quercus. 



between 8000 and 10,000 ft., occasionally descending to 6000 and ascending to 

 12,000 ft. Nepal, Btititan. Leafless for a short time in April and May, the 

 flowers generally appear with the fresh leaves, sometimes in June ; the fruit ripens 

 in At^gust, and soon falls to the ground, where it often germinates within a few 

 days. Generally gregarious, often covering considerable areas to the exclusion 

 of almost every tree of other kinds, not rarely forming the upper limit of forest 

 vegetation. Attains a larger size than any oak of the N.W. Himalaya. Trees 

 70-80 ft. high, with 7-8 ft. girth, are not rare ; they often attain 12 ft., and Dr 

 Stewart measured one 15 ft. girth at 5 ft. from the ground, the trunk bifurcat- 

 ing at 10 ft. In Nepal, WaJlich mentions 80 to 100 ft., with a girth of 14-18 ft., 

 as common dimensions. Where the young trees have grown up close together, 

 the Karzu has an erect, straight trunk, clear of branches. The growth of tlie 

 tree is generally slow, 10-15 rings per in. of radius. Bark grey, cut by shallow 

 cracks into small four-sided scales, with truncate comers. Wood greyish-brown, 

 hard and heavy, medullary rays fine and numerous. In the hills it is used for 

 building, door-frames, bedsteads, carrying-poles, helves, and ploughs, but it is 

 said to warp and to be liable to be eaten by insects. Owing to the remote locali- 

 ties where it mostly grows, and to its great weight, it has not been exported to 

 the plains. Yields excellent charcoal. The leaves are commonly stored as 

 winter fodder for cattle. 



. 2. Q. Ilex, Liun. Holm Oak — Yeuse, Fr. ; Leccio, It. — Syn. Q. Baloot, 

 Griff. ; DC. Prodr. xvi. ii. 38. Vern. Charrei, serei, balut, Afg. ; Sper- 

 cherei, pargdi,- kharanja, Trans-Indus ; CJiur, kharsu, khareu, irri, yuru, 

 yiri, heru, {kathun)ban, ire, hrekche, Pb. 



A middle-sized evergreen tree, often only a shrub, the shoots of the cur- 

 rent year .pubescent, with grey stellate hairs. Leaves 2-3 in. long, coria- 

 ceous, exceedingly variable in shape, elliptic or oblong, entire, or with 

 large spinescent teeth, 'petioles and under side clothed with soft grey 

 tomentum, upper side at first pubescent with stellate hairs, afterwards 

 glabrate, main lateral nerves 6-12 pair, not prominent. Male flowers in 

 slender drooping catkins, the catkins in axillary fascicles, perianth some- 

 what irregularly divided into 4-5 membranous ciliate segments. Anthers 

 (in the Indian specimens) hairy, shortly and obtusely apiculate. Ovary 

 conical, soft-tomentose, exserted ; styles 3-5, linear-clavate, spreading, sur- 

 rounded at the base by the acute, more or less distinct scales of the perianth. 

 Pruit pedunculate, rarely sessile, generally 2-3 acorns at the end and angles 

 of a flexuose peduncle, shorter than the leaf. Acorns at first nearly enclosed 

 in the campanulate or turbinate cup, when mature cylindric with conical 

 top, light brown, glabrous, shining ; scales of cup closely adpressed, hoary, 

 base ovate, narrowed into a linear or lanceolate apex, the ripe acorns on 

 the current year's wood. A variety with eatable seed is Q. Ballota, Desf. 

 Th. Kotschy (Die Eichen Europas u. d. Orients, t. 38) describes and 

 figures the anthers of Q. Ilex as glabrous, but there are specimens from 

 Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean with hairy anthers. It is a 

 matter for farther inquiry whether in this section of Quercus this is a 

 good specific character. The Indian and Afghanistan specimens have 

 densely hairy anthers, and short nearly oval leaves. 



North-East Afghanistan, Kaffiristan, on the Safedkoh, ascending to 10,000 

 ft. Abundant on the eastern flank of the Suliman range (5000-6500 ft.) Hills 



