274 THE OAK. 
vances with a straight trunk, and, like that of the larch, large 
in proportion to its lateral branches. It is altogether destitute 
of that grandeur of ramification peculiar to the British oak. 
Some of the oldest specimens of the species produced in the 
south of England stand upwards of 100 feet high. The 
timber takes an excellent polish, and is beautifully veined. 
It is less durable than that of the common oak. 
Q. C. Fulhamensis (Loudon).—The Fulham Oak is a valuable 
tree. It is a fine, broad-leaved sub-evergreen, and is supposed 
to be a hybrid between the Turkey oak and the cork tree, 
Q. suber. The original tree of the kind, a magnificent 
specimen, stands in the nursery ground of Messrs. Osbourne, 
at Fulham. It is a lofty tree, about eighty feet high, round- 
headed, and the girth of the trunk, a foot above the ground, 
is thirteen feet. It is readily increased by being grafted on 
stocks of the common or Turkey oak. The acorns of the 
original tree, which are produced abundantly, have yielded 
many interesting varieties, which are also propagated by 
grafts ; but seedlings from the original tree are found to sport 
or vary so much that they cannot be sold for the true Fulham 
oak. Grafting, therefore, is the only sure mode of increasing 
the tree in its purity. Grafts spring freely, and on stocks of 
ordinary vigour frequently attain the height of three to four 
feet the first summer. 
Q. C. Lucombeana (Loudon).—The Lucombe oak is a hybrid 
produced at Exeter, Devonshire, between the Turkey oak and 
cork tree. It is a sub-evergreen, and noted for its rapidity 
of growth. The original plant was produced upwards of one 
hundred years ago, and the south of England is furnished 
with many fine specimens of the tree. Its foliage has a great 
resemblance to that of the Fulham oak, but the figure of the 
tree is very different. It shoots up like a spire with a narrow 
and pointed top, while the figure of the Fulham oak is round- 
headed. 
Another hybrid worthy of notice is Turner’s Evergreen Oak, 
raised by a person of that name in Essex, at the close of the 
last century. It is a hybrid between the common British and 
