1276 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Veitch in 1893, appear to be more vigorous. At Beauport, Sussex, there is a good 

 specimen, which measured about 40 ft. by 3 ft. 3 in. in 1905, At Bicton, a healthy- 

 specimen is about 35 ft. by 5 ft. There is also a good tree in Coombe Wood. 



This is one of the oaks in China on which some species of wild silkworm feed ; 

 but Mayr,^ who says that it is not hardy at Grafrath, states that the great expecta- 

 tions of its successful cultivation in southern Europe as food for the silkworm of 

 Saturnia Yama-mai have not been fulfilled. (A. H.) 



QUERCUS VARIABILIS 



Quercus variabilis, Blume, in Mus. Bot Lugd. Bat. i. 297 (1849); Shirasawa, /ir(7«. Ess. Forest. 



Japon, text 54, t. 28, figs, i-ii (1900); Mayr, Fremdldnd. Wald- u. Parkbdume, 510 (1906). 

 Quercus chinensis, Bunge, Enum. PL China, 61 (1835) (not Abel); De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 50 



(1864). 

 Quercus acutissima, Carruthers, vnjourn. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) vi. 33 (186 1). 

 Quercus Bungeana, Forbes, \n Journ. Bot xxii. 83, 85 (1884); Skan, m Journ. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) 



xxvi. 508 (1899). 

 Quercus serrata, Thunberg, var. chinensis, Wenzig, m Jahrb. bot. Gart. Berlin, iv. 221 (1886). 



A tree, attaining 80 ft. in height and 10 ft. in girth. Bark grey, thick, corky. 

 Young branchlets as in Q. serrata. Leaves (Plate 337, Fig. 40) similar to those of 

 that species, but covered beneath with a dense white tomentum. Fruit with smaller 

 cupules, which have thicker shorter scales. 



This species, which is very closely allied to, if not a mere variety of Q. serrata, 

 is spread through Japan, Korea, and China, where it is very common about Peking, 

 attaining in the western hills a height of 60 to 80 ft. The acorn-cups are used in 

 China for dyeing purposes, and yield a considerable amount of tannin. 



This tree produces cork very similar to that yielded by Q. Suber in Europe ; 

 and the Japanese have commenced to utilise its bark for this purpose. Mayr 

 strongly recommends its cultivation for cork in localities where the common 

 chestnut thrives. 



Fortune,^ in 1861, procured a large quantity of acorns at Peking, from which 

 Standish raised young plants at Bagshot ; but we have found no trees of this origin. 



It was afterwards introduced by Dr. Bretschneider,' who sent acorns fromi 

 Peking, where the tree is very common, to Prof. Sargent in 1881, and to Kew in 

 1882, where there is a good specimen about 20 ft. high and growing vigorously. 

 A smaller tree, raised from acorns sent by Regel, is probably of Japanese origin. 

 Sargent* says that this species is very hardy in the Arnold Arboretum, U.S.A., 

 and of rapid growth, the leaves turning a bright yellow in November. He* also 

 collected acorns in Japan in 1892, from which young plants were raised. 



(A. H.) 



1 Fremdldnd. Wald- u. Parkbdume, 5 10 (1906). 

 2 Yedc and Peking, 382 (1863), and in Card. Chron., 1863, p. 872. 

 ^ Hist. Europ. Bot. Disc. China, 1061 (1898). 

 « In Garden and Forest, iii. 556 (1890). 6 porest Flora /afian, 68 (1894). 



