Quercus 1263 



Branchlets grey tomentose ; stipules early deciduous. Leaves (Plate 339, Fig. 71) 

 about 2 in. long, not exceeding f in. in width, very variable in outline, the central 

 part usually reduced to a narrow fringe on each side of the midrib, basal part with one 

 to four mucronate lobes, apical part expanded ; rounded or acute at the apex ; entire 

 or toothed and mucronate ; dark shining green above, white tomentose beneath. 



Fruit ripening in the second year; cupule hemispherical, about i in. in 

 diameter, with grey tomentose scales, red at the tips, irregular in size, the shorter 

 ovate and appressed, the longer lanceolate-acuminate and slightly spreading, less 

 numerous than the others and irregularly disposed ; acorn depressed at the apex, with 

 a conical tomentose umbo. 



This peculiar variety, the history ^ of which is unknown, has leaves similar in 

 form, but smaller and more coriaceous than those of var. heterophylla, from which it 

 differs strikingly in habit and in fruit. Two trees, about 20 ft. high, in Kew Gardens 

 were procured from Smith of Worcester in 1877. 



9. Quercus Pseudosuber,^ Santi, Viaggio al Montamiata di Giorgio Santi, i. 150, 

 t. 3 (Pisa, 1795). 



Quercus Fontanesii, Gussone, Index Sem. Hort. Boccadifako^ 10 (1826). 



Under these names a number of wild trees, which so far as we can learn, only 

 occur sporadically in the neighbourhood of their supposed parents, have been 

 described, which are probably hybrid forms between Q. Suber and Q. Cerris. The 

 original tree, described by Santi, was found near Florence ; others were seen by 

 Gussone in Sicily and Calabria. Kotschy mentions isolated trees in Istria, at 

 Pisino-Corridaro, Carpizza, and near Capo d' I stria. It is also recorded from the 

 neighbourhood of Grasse, in Provence. Specimens from Italy in the British 

 Museum resemble in foliage Q. Lucombeana, var. suberosa. Both Q. Pseudosuber 

 and Q. Fontanesii were said to have been introduced into cultivation in Loudon's 

 time ; but if any survive, we see no means by which they can be distinguished from 

 the seedling forms of Q. Lucombeana. (A. H.) 



Q. Pseudosuber has been treated by some French botanists as a species, whilst 

 others consider it to be a hybrid between Q. Suber and Q. Cerris. In order to solve 

 this question I visited the district in which it has been found, near Grasse, in January 

 1 9 10, and after some inquiry found the only two trees known to M. Richard, the forest 

 officer of Montauroux. One of these grows by the side of a rivulet close to the house 

 of Mr. Nelson, manager of the Mine de Vaux, a coal mine which is being worked by 

 an English company about three miles south of Montauroux, on the road to Frejus. 

 The largest of these is a tree about 55 ft. by 3 ft. 3 in., with an upright habit, 

 differing from all the other oaks which grew near it, namely the cork oak and Q. 

 lanuginosa (locally known as Chine blanc). The bark, of which I took a specimen, is 

 corky, but much thinner than that of the cork oak ; the leaves are hardly distinguish- 



' Its corky bark and acorns ripening in the second year exclude it from being a variety of Q. Ilex. It is incorrectly 

 identified in Kew Handlist of Trees, loc. cit., with var. incisa. 



2 Q. Pseudosuber, Desfontaines, is of totally different origin, being the hybrid between Q. Mirbeckii and Q. Suber 

 which is found in Algeria. Seep. 13 19. 



^ Boccadifalco, where there was formerly a Royal Garden, is near Palermo. 



