Quercus 1269 



Distribution 



This species is widely spread throughout Greece and the adjoining islands, 

 either solitary or forming small woods. Mr. F. B. Wood, British Consul at Patras, 

 informs us that in that district it is abundant and attains large dimensions. A tree 

 of which he sends a sketch, is about 60 ft. high, and 13 ft. or more in girth at 3 ft. 

 from the ground, above the spreading roots. The tree flourishes equally well in 

 various soils. The forest in Elis grows in a plain of rich loam, where myrtle, 

 arbutus, and lentisk are found in profusion. In late spring this oak forest with its 

 carpet of bracken, mixed with asphodel, crocus, and countless wild flowers, is very 

 beautiful. In Acarnania and Etolia the trees grow on rocky hill-sides, amongst 

 wild sage and thorn. In Elis and Achaia a yellow-berried mistletoe {Loranthus 

 europcBus) is found on every second oak. 



The Valonia oak is also widely spread throughout Asia Minor ^ and Crete. 

 According to Sir Joseph Hooker," "it is very gregarious in Syria, never forming a 

 bush or growth of underwood, but rising on a stout gnarled trunk 3 to 7 ft. in girth, 

 to the height of 20 to 30 ft. Wherever we saw it, as on the hills east of Nazareth, 

 on Tabor where it is abundant, to the east of Caifa, and on the north-east flank of 

 Carmel, it forms scattered, rather round-headed, densely leafy trees, giving an open 

 park-like appearance to the landscape. The wood is said to be excellent. The acorn 

 often attains a very large size, some we gathered were 2\ in. long and 3 in. in girth, 

 but they vary extremely on the same tree, some being so small that I have had diffi- 

 culty in distinguishing between them and large ones of Q. pseudococcifera. I have 

 examples which if they had not been taken by myself from an ^gilops tree which 

 also bore large acorns, I should have attributed to hybridisation between the two. 

 When fully ripe the gland is still green, and in this state it germinates, the peri- 

 carp never hardening. They may be seen in all the bazaars, raw and boiled, in which 

 state they are eaten by Turks and Arabs." 



Gay says that in the Jardin des Plantes on 14th November 1862, he found 

 the acorns of a chestnut brown colour and with a nutty flavour ; and this was the 

 case with acorns from Greece which I tasted, and found slightly astringent, but 

 quite edible. 



Cultivation 



According to Loudon this species was introduced as long ago as 1731, but it has 

 always been a rare tree, and probably requires more summer heat than our climate 

 affords. The acorns are often sent from the Levant, but seem to lose their vitality 

 quickly. I received some of remarkably large size in January 1909 from Mr. Wood, 

 which have made nice young seedlings in pots. 



In Gay's herbarium, at Kew, there is a specimen from a tree growing in the 



' Balansa in a note preserved in Gay's herbarium says that in the neighbourhood of Ushak (or Oushag or Uschak), 

 this oak forms vast forests, and the collection of the cupules was an important industry. At that time they were worth about 

 2d. a pound, one tree producing about ten pounds. 



2 In Trans. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 385 (1862). 



