Quercus 1 3 1 5 



other trees on almost pure sand or on sandy clays; but is occasionally seen in 

 mixture with Q. pedunculata. It is usually treated as coppice, as it regenerates freely 

 from cut stools and from the roots ; but is of little value except for its bark and for 

 firewood. It produces fruit abundantly every year ; and the woods in which this 

 species occurs near Bayonne are celebrated for fattening pigs, (A. H.) 



This is one of the common trees of the north of Spain and Portugal, extending 

 from the Pyrenees through the Cantabrian mountains to Portugal ; and according to 

 Laguna^ is found more or less in every province of Spain, occurring in the Sierra 

 de Credos up to 5000 ft., and in the Sierra Nevada to 6000 ft. In Galicia, according 

 to Gadow,^ it is abundant from about 1000 to nearly 3000 ft. Barros Gomes ^ says 

 that it is with the chestnut, the dominant tree in Beira Trasmontana, on the upper 

 Lezera, the C6a, and the Serra de Montemuro, at an elevation of 200 to 1500 metres. 

 I found it mixed with Q. pedunculata in the Serra do Gerez in north Portugal, at 

 about 3000 ft., and abundantly near Castello Novo in Beira Baixa, where it varies very 

 much in the shape and size of its foliage, and was in full leaf by the end of April. 



It is known in Galicia as cerquinho, and in the Serra do Gerez as carvalho 

 cerquhino, meaning little oak. In Portugal it is sometimes called negral or 

 carvalho negro ; near Santander, roble negro or tocio ; and in the mountains of 

 Cuenca, melojo. It is rarely allowed to become a large tree, the branches being 

 lopped as fodder for goats and cattle, and it never seems to attain the size of the 

 common and cork oaks, the largest that I saw or heard of, near Castello Novo, 

 which, however, were not old trees, were about 70 ft. by ']\ ft.* 



It usually bears numbers of large galls, produced by Cynips Tosce, Bosc, which 

 are also characteristic of Q. lusitanica, and are described and figured, with many 

 other galls, in a valuable paper by Padre Joaquim da Silva Tavares.^ 



Cultivation 



This species is said by Loudon to have been introduced in 1822, but the tree 

 at Clpnmannon is probably older than this date. It never seems to have been 

 popular with nurserymen, and possibly is short-lived. 



In England, the best tree appears to be one at Strete Ralegh, which Miss 

 F- Woolward reports to be about 40 ft. high, but with the branches much 

 broken by wind. There is a good specimen at Tortworth, and others at Kew, 

 Syon, Melbury, and Westonbirt. 



At Smeaton Hepburn, East Lothian, Sir Archibald Buchan-Hepburn, Bart., 

 reports a tree which, although it has lost 12 ft. of its leader, is 35 ft. high and 

 4I ft. in girth. The branches are distinctly pendulous, but have been repeatedly 

 broken by north-westerly gales. 



The finest tree that we know of is at Clonmannon, Co. Wicklow, which, when 

 seen by Henry in 1904, measured 66 ft. in height and 9 ft. in girth; but was begin- 

 ning to be attacked by a fungus, a portion of the butt being unsound (Plate 330). 

 There is no authentic information to be obtained concerning the date of planting 



» Flora Forestal Espanola, 232 (1883). ^ Northern Spain, 389 (1897). ' j^urn. Sc, Acad. SH., Lisbon, v. 235 (1876). 

 * A large tree in the forest of Bussaco is figured in Bull. Soc. Dend. France, 1905, p. 5. 

 5 Broterid, vi. t vi. fig. 6 (Lisbon, 1905). 



