Quercus 1 3 1 9 



larger than the narrow triangular scales towards the thin margin ; acorn ovoid, about 

 an inch long, glabrous. 



This species in Algeria varies ^ considerably in the size and shape of the leaves, 

 the largest and most obovate forms occurring in the rainy districts near the coast ; 

 while small and narrow leaves are characteristic of the trees growing in the dry 

 mountains of the interior, as in the cedar forest of Teniet-el-Hiad, where the speci- 

 mens which I collected are scarcely half the size of those of the coast forest of 

 Akfadou. In the driest regions of the western part of Algeria, where the soil is 

 limestone, the leaves are not only small, but are covered beneath with a thin 

 tomentum, constituting var. tlemcensis, Warion.^ 



Q. Mirbeckii also occasionally forms hybrids with Q. Suber, a tree of this kind 

 with corky bark found in the forest of Tlemcen being Q. Pseudosuber, Desfontaines, 

 Fl. Atlant. ii. 348 (1800) (not Santi). A similar tree has lately been found in the 

 same forest by M. Trabut. 



Distribution 



This species is a native of southern Portugal (where it seems to be rare,^ and 

 confined to the province of Algarve), Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis. Little is 

 known of its distribution in Morocco, where it was collected in the mountains near 

 Tangier by Ball in 1 862 ; while in Tunis it appears to be limited to and not 

 abundant in the Khroumir mountains. In western Algeria and throughout the 

 Atlas range, owing probably to the insufficient rainfall, Q. Mirbeckii grows only 

 in a few localities, on the northern slopes of the mountains, as in the forest of Hafir, 

 near Tlemcen, at Nesmoth, around Tenes, at Teniet-el-Hiad, Matmata, and Blida. 

 At Teniet-el-Haad it grows in company with the cedar, from 4700 ft. to the summit 

 at 5900 ft., and forms wide-spreading branching trees often 12 ft. in girth. This oak 

 is much more abundant and of considerable commercial importance in the extensive 

 broad-leaved forests, which are situated in the mountains near the coast, in eastern 

 Kabylia and in the province of Constantine, where the rainfall is heavy. The forest 

 of Akfadou, near Bongie, which I visited in January 1907, is mainly composed of 

 oaks, with a slight admixture of maples, willows, cherry, and holly. In the lower 

 zone, between 1500 and 3000 ft., Q. S'^^J^r predominates, with a few scattered small 

 trees of Q. Mirbeckii ; above 3000 ft. the latter becomes the main species, and in- 

 creases in size, the cork oak ceasing at about 3700 ft., and being replaced by 

 Q. castane^efolia. Above this level to the summit, about 5000 ft., the forest is an 

 equal mixture of the latter species and Q. Mirbeckii (Plate 323). In this forest the 

 largest Q. Mirbeckii is reported to be 17 ft. in girth ; but I saw none exceeding 

 13 ft., and the tallest tree which I measured was 90 ft. by 8 ft. 4 in, M. Trabut 

 informed me that the finest forest of this species, nearly pure, is at Ain-ma-beurd, 

 near Djidjelli, where the trees rival in height and in density upon the ground those 

 of Q. sessilifiora in the famous forest * of Berce, in France. The total annual yield of 



1 Cf. Trabut, in Rev. Gin. de Bot. iv. 1-6, figs. 1-3 (1892). » Ex Battandier et Trabut, Fl. Algir. 821 (1890). 



' The only specimen which I have seen from Portugal, is one collected by Welwitsch, on the Serra da Picota in Algarve. 

 This specimen is in the Kew herbarium. * Cf. vol. ii. p. 331. 



