1324 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



4. Var. humilis. 



Quercus humilis, Lamarck, Encyc. i. 719 (1783) (not Miller); Webb, It. Hisp. 11 (1838); 



Masters, in Gard. Chron., 1874, p. 112, f. 31. 

 Quercus fruticosa, Brotero, Fl. Lusit. ii. 31 (1804). 



A low shrub, found in poor sandy soil. Leaves late in falling, i to ij in. long, 

 obovate-elliptic, irregularly and acutely mucronate-toothed ; petiole very short, about 

 •1- in. long. According to Webb, this covers arid tracts in central and southern 

 Portugal, and finds its most easterly station near Gibraltar. 



5. At Tortworth there is a grafted tree, about 40 ft. high, which was procured 

 from the Elvaston Nursery about forty-five years ago, under the name Q. serrati- 

 folia} This has narrow leaves, with triangular mucronate teeth, a cuneate base and 



a long petiole, and is one of the forms assignable to var. Broteri. It bears fruit 

 freely, from which seedlings have been frequently raised, said to resemble the parent 

 in foliage. One of these seedlings, planted at Kew, has large obovate-oblong leaves, 

 green and glabrous beneath, auricled at the base, and with a short petiole ; and is 

 intermediate between Q. lusitanica and Q. pedunculata. Its parent was probably 

 pollinated by an adjoining common oak. (A, H.) 



Distribution 



Q. lusitanica is a native of Spain and Portugal, being replaced in the Levant 

 by the closely-allied species, Q. infectoria. The range of this species in Spain is 

 very wide. According to Laguna and Avila it is found in all the provinces except 

 Galicia, Asturias, and Biscay, but is commonest in Estremadura and Andalusia. 



Captain Widdrington seems to have been the first to call special attention to it,^ 

 and says that it was a leading feature in the ancient forests of Spain. He found it 

 from the southern part of Andalusia to the centre of Leon, almost to the watershed 

 of Asturias, and from the western Sierra Morena to near Guadalaxara. He notices 

 its extreme variability, and calls it a very beautiful deciduous tree, with shining 

 green leaves varying from i to 4 in. in length, and proposed for it the name of 

 Q. Quexigo. Laguna and Avila spell this — the common Spanish name — Quejigo. 



In Spain it is usually so much cut for firewood that it is rarely seen as a large 

 tree, but in Portugal it attains a great size ; and in a paper by Gebhart, in the Revue 

 des Eaux et Forits, I find one recorded in the forest of Cazal do Prado, which was 

 5-40 metres in girth, and with a crown 26 metres in diameter, which produced 840 

 litres of acorns in one year. 



I saw this oak growing abundantly in central Portugal, especially in the Serra 

 of Cintra. It is a medium-sized or large tree, usually attaining 50 to 60 ft. in height, 

 and 8 to ID ft. in girth ; and in this mild and comparatively damp climate seems to 

 be subevergreen, a few leaves remaining on most of the trees in the beginning of 

 April. Its habit is spreading and branchy, very similar to that of the cork oak. The 

 bark is more like that of Q. Ilex than that of Q. pedunculata, and never becomes corky. 



> According to Koch, Dendrologie, ii. 2, p. 78 (1873), an oak with this name was introduced from Spain by Booth of 

 Flottbeck, near Hamburg. 2 spam and the Spaniards, i. 385 (1844). 



