32 DOUGLAS JOURNAL 



A. Annual Fructification. 

 X Leaves Idbed. 



1. QuEECUS ALBA. White Oah. 



Q. alba. Foliis oblongo-ovatis profunde pinnatifidis subtus glaucis basi 

 attenuatis laciniis oUongis obtusis plerumque integerrimis, cupula hemi- 

 sphaerica squamoso-tuberculata, glande ovata. 



Q. alba, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 1414, WiEd. Sp. PI. v. 4, p. 448 ; Michx. f. N. 

 Am. Sylva (ed. Philad.) v. 1, p. 11, t. 1 ; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. v. 2, p. 633. 



Q. alba, Willd. Sp. PI. 4, p. 448 ; Kalm. It. 2, p. 357 ; Du Roi, Harbk. Baumz. 2, 

 p. 270, t. 5, f. 5 ; Wangenh. Nordam. Holz. p. 12, t. 3, f. 6 ; Michx. Hist. Chenes 

 Am. n. 4, t. 5, n. 1 ; Michx. f. Hist. Arb. Am. 2, p. 13, t. 1 ; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 2. 

 ■p. 633 ; Nutt. Gen. 2, p. 215 ; alba virginiana, Catesb. Carol. 1, t. 21 ; Sm. in 

 Rees' Encyc. 29, part 1st, n. 69 ; Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2, 5, p. 293; /3 aCbarepanda, Michx. 

 Hist. Chenes Am. n. 4, t. 5, n. 2 ; Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 2, p. 633. 



Q. aWa. On the fertile banks of Red River, situated in the 49° north latitude, this 

 species attains no inconsiderable size — at least sufficiently large for domestic purposes. 

 It is greatly used by the inhabitants of the colony formed on the banks of that stream. 

 Forty miles to the south of the settlement, near Pembina, it is still more plentiful and 

 increases the further we go to the south. On the northern shores and islands of Lake 

 Winnipeg in the 50°, on poor bleak soils of the shore, and on the Granite Islands where 

 the soil is very thin, it dwindles to a small scrubby bush 6 to 10 feet high bearing 

 abundance of acorns ; this is the most northern limits of this species. 



A species remarkable for its deeply pinnatifid leaves and their nearly 

 equal, and mostly entire, obtuse segments, the upper ones only being 

 irregularly lobed, one of the lateral ones rarely so. They taper gradually 

 at the base, are of a bright, deep, and shining green above, glaucous and 

 glabrous beneath, in all my specimens with ripe fruit ; sometimes, however, 

 in young individuals especially, the leaves are pubescent beneath, and 

 occasionally, according to WiUdenow, green on both sides. The acorn 

 is large, handsome, ovate, almost an inch long ; the cup hemispherical, 

 flat at the base, inserted singly or two together on a short stalk, and thickly 

 clothed with tubercuHform scales. 



It is one of the largest, most abundant, and useful species in the middle 

 States, foimd upon every variety of soU. Towards the middle and Western 

 extremity of the State of New York in the Genessee Tract, where the soil 

 is generally a dry rich black or brownish loam, it attains an immense size. 

 On the banks of the River Detroit from Aroherstburg to the junction of 

 the Thames with the St. Clair in Upper Canada, and on the opposite banks, 

 in the Michigan Territory, on a deep alluvial rich black soil, these trees 

 freijuently measure from 20 to 25 feet in circumference at 8 feet from 

 the ground, and are from 80 to 100 feet high. This species certainly appears 

 to prefer a temperate, or rather a cold chmate, for the individuals which 

 I saw of it in Canada on the Niagara, and in the northern part of New 

 York, were much larger than any which I observed in the States of 

 Pennsylvania and Delaware, which were the most southern districts I 

 visited. Pursh, who mentions that it is found ia fertile forests from 

 New England to Carolina, says it grows to an immense size in the Middle 

 States ; my observations make those produced in the more northern 

 districts larger. 



