1274 ^^^ Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



south it is more common, as in the mountains between Lake Scutari and the 

 sea, and throughout Albania, where it grows above the zone of littoral vegeta- 

 tion, in the lower region of the deciduous oak forests up to 2000 or 3000 ft. 

 It forms pure woods of small extent, or is mixed with Q. Cerris, Q. conferta, 

 Carpinus orientalis, Ostrya, and Fraxinus Ornus. 



This species only attains a moderate size, and can scarcely be expected to 

 form a large tree in England, where the best specimen known to us is at 

 Tortworth, which measured in 1907 about 25 ft. high and i ft. 11 in. in girth. 

 The only others we have seen are small trees at Kew, about 10 ft. high, which were 

 raised from acorns sent by Beccari in 1890. Elwes raised a lot of seedlings from 

 acorns sent to Kew in 1905, which seem to thrive on oolite soil, and endured 

 the severe frost of 1908-9 better than Q. Ilex. It appears to be perfectly 

 hardy not only in England, but in Germany,^ where young plants raised at 

 Gotha from acorns gathered by Dr. Perona at Gallipoli are thriving. (A. H.) 



QUERCUS LIBANI 



Quercus Libani, Olivier, Voy. Emp. 0th. ii. 290, t. 32 (1807); De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 49 

 (1864); Carrifere, in Rev. Hort. 1872, p. 155, f. 18 ; Boissier, Fl. Orient, iv. 1173 (1879). 



A small tree or large shrub. Young branchlets minutely pubescent. Buds 

 ovoid, acute, \ in. long, with ciliate, glabrous, or pubescent scales. Leaves 

 (Plate 337, Fig. 39) deciduous in autumn, about 3 in. long and f in. wide, 

 lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, rounded and unequal at the base, with nine to 

 twelve pairs of lateral nerves, each ending in a bristle-tipped inflexed ^ serration ; 

 both surfaces at first pubescent, usually becoming glabrous in summer, except 

 on the midrib and nerves, where some pubescence is retained ; petiole \ in. long, 

 pubescent. 



Fruit ripening in the second year, solitary on short stout pubescent stalks, 

 very variable in size ; acorn globose and only slightly projecting beyond the 

 cupule, or cylindrical and half- enclosed by the cupule, depressed and tomentose 

 at the apex ; cupule campanulate, f to \\ in. in diameter, covered with appressed 

 tomentose ovate-rhombic scales. 



This species is extremely variable' in the amount of pubescence on the 

 branchlets and leaves, and in the size of the acorn cup, which shows much variation 

 in the size and shape of the scales. Leaves with irregular deep lobes sometimes 

 occur on vigorous young branchlets ; and extreme forms of this are Q. squarrosa, 

 Kotschy,* founded possibly on coppice shoots. Q. Libani, which was discovered by 

 Olivier on Mt. Lebanon, is widely spread throughout the mountains of Syria, Asia 

 Minor, and Armenia. 



1 Schneider, Laubhohkunde, i. i8o (1904). 



2 The margin is wrinkled on account of the inflexed teeth, but less so than in Q. macedonica. 



3 Quercus regia, Lindley, Bot. Reg. t. 73 (1840); Q. vesca, Kotschy, Eichen, t. 11 (1862); and Q. Tchihatchewi, 

 Kotschy, m TchihatcheiT, As. Min. ii. 468, t. 40, f. i (i860), are united with Q. Libani by Boissier, and are perhaps 

 extreme forms of this very variable species. 4 Ex De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 108 (1864). 



