114 FAMILIAR TREES 



China westward, North Africa, and the South of 

 Europe, occurring wild as far north as Nantes, 

 and growing at an altitude of 3,200 feet on the 

 slopes of Etna. Even in its native countries it 

 seems to have but little power of ousting other 

 vegetation, so that it seldom forms forests; but 

 both where it is indigenous, and with us, it thrives 

 remarkably close to the sea-shore, where no other 

 European Oak will flourish. Considering, therefore, 

 its dense foliage, its evergreen character, and its 

 value as timber, this tree might certainly with 

 advantage be more extensively planted as a screen 

 in such situations. A winter of exceptional severity 

 may cause it to lose its leaves, but is seldom fatal 

 to it. 



As the trunk is generally furnished with 

 branches down to the ground, the Holm Oak has, 

 even when of large si^e, the appearance of a 

 gigantic bush or shrub, rather than that of a 

 timber tree ; but when pruned, or drawn up by 

 being planted with other trees, it may form a 

 straight trunk, and reach a height of fifty, sixty, 

 seventy, and even eighty feet and more, with a 

 circumference which, though generally not more 

 than from two to six feet, has reached eleven and 

 even twenty-two feet. Its growth is rapid at 

 first, reaching twenty or thirty feet in from 

 twelve to fifteen years ; but afterwards it in- 

 creases much more slowly, seldom exceeding 

 fifty feet of height when as many years of 

 age, though a tree at Croome, in Worcestershire, 

 is recorded by Loudon as being seventy feet high 



