Quercus 1275 



The oldest plants in Europe were apparently raised at Paris, from acorns sent by 

 Balansa in 1855. A healthy tree in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris produces acorns ; 

 and it is quite hardy at Les Barres. This species is extremely rare in England. The 

 best is a grafted tree at Kew, about 25 ft. high, with a good leader, which was obtained 

 under the name Q. serrata pendula, from Lee's nursery in 1 880. A smaller tree, about 

 15 ft. high, obtained from Paris in 1883, bore a few acorns in 1909. There are also 

 specimens at Tortworth, Grayswood, and Aldenham. The latter, a healthy young 

 tree, produced ripe fruit in 1908. (A. H.) 



QUERCUS SERRATA 



Quercus serrata, Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 176 (1784); Franchet et Savatier, Enum. PI. Jap. i. 447 (1875); 

 Hooker, Fl. Brit. India, v. 601 (1888); Skan, m Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxvi. 520 (1899); 

 Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japan, text 51, t. 26, figs. 1-12 (1900); Gamble, Indian Timbers, 

 673 (1902). 



A tree, attaining usually about 40 ft. in height. Young branchlets silky 

 pubescent when young, soon becoming glabrescent ; smooth and shining in the 

 second year. Leaves (Plate 337, Fig. 46) deciduous in autumn, 4 to 8 in. long, i to 

 2 in. wide, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, cuneate or rounded at the base, 

 with ten to sixteen pairs of lateral nerves, each ending in a bristle-tipped serration ; 

 upper surface glabrescent ; lower surface green, with deciduous appressed pubescence, 

 glabrous in summer except for slight stellate - pubescent axil - tufts ; margin non- 

 ciliate ; petiole ^ to i in. long, with scattered pubescence. 



Fruit ripening in the second year, solitary or in pairs, sub-sessile ; acorn 

 ellipsoid, glabrous, scarcely longer than the hemispherical cupule, which is f to i^ in. 

 in diameter, covered with tomentose scales, those at the base ovate-oblong, those 

 above linear, ^ to i in. long, more or less spreading. 



This species is widely distributed, occurring in Japan, China, the Shan and 

 Khasia Hills, and in the Himalayas, through Bhutan and Sikkim to eastern Nepal. 

 In Japan, Sargent saw it growing on dry soil near the coast behind Yokohama, and 

 on the foothills of central Hondo. Gamble states that it has been largely planted at 

 the cinchona plantations near Darjeeling and succeeded admirably. It has also 

 done well at Dehra Dun, where a tree felled in the garden of the Forest School 

 showed a growth of two to three rings per inch of radius. 



Gay ^ states that four plants of this species, about 3 ft. high, were growing in 

 1 86 1 at Verrieres, near Paris, where they had been raised from acorns sent from 

 Manchuria by Montigny ; but these do not appear to have survived.^ Maximowicz 

 in 1864 introduced Q. serrata from Japan into the St. Petersburg Botanic Garden." 



It is probable that this species was introduced into England by Oldham, who 

 collected in Japan, China, and Korea in 1861-64, as a small tree in Kew Gardens, 

 about 20 ft. high, is labelled with his name. Younger specimens, received from 



1 Note in Kew Herbarium. 



2 In HortusVilmoHniamts, SS (1906), mention is only made of young plants of this species, raised from Chinese acorns, 

 obtained a few years ago. ' Bretschneider, Hist. Europ. Bot. Disc. China, 609 (1898). 



