$46 ARBORETUM £T FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
Female flowers numerous, enclosed in ascaly bud. Nut oval, smooth, at 
length surrounded by a lacerated involucrum. 
Genus I. 
lel Ol ilellalal.! 
QUE’RCUS L. Tue Oak. Lin. Syst. Monce‘cia Polyandria. 
Identification. Lin. Gen., 495. ; Juss., 410.; Fl. Br., 1025.; Tourn., t. 349.; Lam., t. 779. 
Synonymes. Ilex Tourn. ; Saber Tourn. ; Derw, Celtic ; Aaack, or Ac, Saxon; Al, Alon, or Allun, 
Hebrew ; Drus, Greek; Chéne, Fr.; Eiche, Ger. ; Eik, Dutch ; Quercia, Ital.; Encina, Span. 
Derivation. From quer, fine, and cuex, a tree, Celtic, according to Lepelletier: but, according to 
others, from the Greek word cho#ros, a pig ; because pigs feed on the acorns. The Celtic name 
for this tree (Derw) is said to be the root of the word Druid (that is, priest of the oak), and of the 
Greek name Drus. The Hebrew name for the oak (Al, or Alon) is said to be the origin of the old 
English word Jan (originally signifying an oak grove, or place of worship of the druids, and after- 
wards, by implication, a town or parish), and also of the Irish words clan and clun. In the Book of 
Isaiah, xliv. 14,, idols are said to be made of Allun, or Alon ; that is, of oak. (Lowth’s T’rans.) 
Gen. Char., §c. Flowers unisexual. — Males disposed in long, slender, pen- 
dulous catkins, in groups. Each flower consists of 8 or more stamens, 
and these are attended by 6—8 bracteas, that are coherent at the 
base, and resemble a 6—8-parted calyx.— Female flowers erect on ax- 
illary peduncles, a few upon a peduncle. Each flower consists of a pistil, 
whose ovary, and the basal part of whose style, are invested with an 
adnate calyx toothed at the tip. Style short. Stigma 3-lobed. Fruit an 
acorn; its lower part having an imbricate cup. (G. Don.) 
Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous or evergreen ; entire, serrated, 
or lobed. Flowers greenish white. — Trees, chiefly large and deciduous ; 
natives of Europe, Asia, and America. 
The oaks, in point of usefulness to man, are only to be equalled by the 
pine and fir tribe. The latter may be considered the domestic, and the 
former the defensive, trees of civilised society. The oak is never found in 
perfection, except in a good soil, and in a temperate climate. Like almost 
all other plants, it will thrive in a deep sandy loam or in vegetable soil, but 
to attain its full size, and to bring its timber to perfection, it requires a soil 
more or less alluvial or loamy; and the European oaks are always most 
luxuriant, and produce the best timber, on a soil somewhat calcareous. No 
oak, in the temperate climates, is found of a large size at a great elevation 
above the level of the sea, or where the climate is very severein spring. In 
the Himalayas, and in Mexico, oaks are found of large size on mountains ; but 
then the climate, naturally hot, is only rendered temperate by elevation. All 
oaks whatever are impatient of spring frosts. The wood of most of the 
species of oaks is, comparatively with that of other trees, hard, compact, 
heavy, tough, and durable; and, in most, the entire plant, and more espe- 
cially the bark, leaves, and fruit, abound in astringent matter and in tannin. 
The wood of the larger-growing European kinds, and more especially of 
the group Robur, is considered superior to all other European or American 
woods for ship-building. The wood of Q. alba, and that of Q. virens, are 
most esteemed for the same object in America, The wood of the group Cérris is 
also employed in ship-building in Turkey and Greece. The oak is generally 
propagated by seed, and time will be gained by sowing acorns where the 
plants are intended finally to remain. Varieties are propagated by inarching 
or whip-grafting, the latter being performed close to the surface of the ground 
on the collar of the plant; and the graft afterwards earthed up. All the 
American deciduous oaks may be grafted on Q. Cérris, and all the evergreen 
oaks, both European and American, on Q. I‘lex. The mode of raising oaks 
from the acorn is the same in all the species. The acorns need not be 
gathered from the tree, but may be collected from the ground immediately 
after they have dropped; and, as in the case of other tree seeds, they may 
be either sown then, or kept till the following spring. If they are to be kept 
