12 



84 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



groups in the Basses-Pyr^ndes, Gironde, Charente, around Nantes and Poitiers ; 

 and is 'reported as far north as Quimper. In France, though limited in the wild 

 state to the milder regions, it bears a considerable degree of winter cold, having 

 sustained without injury at Grignon a temperature of - 23° Cent, in 1871 ; but in 

 1879 when the temperature fell to -261° Cent, it was killed to the ground, but the 

 root has since produced a vigorous shoot.^ 



In Corsica, Q. Ilex is a common tree, and forms fine forests in the north- 

 western part of the island. That of Pirio, near Calvi, occupies northern slopes 

 between 600 and 2500 ft. altitude, and contains many large trees, up to 90 ft. 



in height. (A- H-) 



In Italy, Q. Ilex is widely spread. Bunbury ^ says that " in the Cascine, near 

 Pisa, mixed with stone pine and pinaster, it forms extensive woods on light sandy 

 soil. The limestone mountains behind Spoleto are entirely clothed with the Ilex ; 

 so are those near Terni, around the famous falls of the Velino, and those bounding 

 the valley of the Nar from Terni to Narni. There are many large trees of it on 

 the banks of the Nar near the Bridge of Augustus. The superb Ilexes in the 

 grounds of the Villa Borghese and Villa Pamfili at Rome are celebrated ; but the 

 finest trees of the kind that I remember ever to have seen are on the road between 

 Castel Gondolfo and the Capuchin convent above the town of Albano. They are 

 of vast size." I measured a very fine tree, said to be over 150 years old, in the 

 garden of the Hotel Hassler at Naples, formerly belonging to the King of Naples. 

 In March 1910 it was over 90 ft. high and 12^ ft. in girth, and had borne many 

 large acorns, some of which I brought home. 



Q. Ilex is generally known in Spain as encina, but sometimes called carrasca, 

 or chaparro ; and in Portugal is named azinho or azinheira. It is an extremely 

 variable tree found throughout Spain except perhaps in Galicia, most abundant in 

 the south, where it ascends, near Ronda, to 1500, and in the Sierra Nevada to 

 2000 metres ; and is a most characteristic tree of large tracts in Estremadura and 

 Leon. Widdrington considered it distinct from the common Ilex grown in England, 

 and says that he instantly recognised it in a bed of seedlings at Kensington, which 

 on inquiry turned out to have been raised from acorns sent from Valencia by Lord 

 Holland. He adds that it is less hardy, and would barely exist in the north of 

 England, where the Italian form grew well. 



In passing through the great open plains which lie between the Portuguese 

 frontier and Ciudad Rodrigo this was almost the only tree that I saw scattered 

 over the country for many miles as a sort of open forest, cultivated with wheat 

 or rye between the trees, or grazed. The trees were heavily pruned like olive 

 trees, to make them produce as many acorns as possible ; and these acorns, known 

 as bellotas, are looked on as good food for man and beast. 



In Portugal the tree is not so common generally as Q. Suber and Q. lusitanica 

 in the south, or as Q. pedunculata and Q. Toza in the north ; and I saw none of great 

 size ; though a tree at Villa Nova de Baronia, in Alemtejo, is recorded by Gebhart as 

 3-35 metres in girth, with a crown 19 metres in diameter when less than 100 years 



1 Cf. MouiUefert, Essences Forestieres, 104 (1903). 2 Arboretum Notes, 112 (1889). 



