7J6 CCXII. COETLACE^. 



almost wtoUy wanting. Africa produces none, except in the Mediterranean region, where a few Oaks 

 are met with. The Beech is represented on the Andes of (Jhili by very tall trees {Fagits proeera), 

 which are only less lofty than the Arauearia ; and on the mountains of the same country F. PumUio 

 marks the limit of arboreal vegetation. Other species of Beech have been observed in [Fuegia] Tasmania 

 and New Zealand. 



Cupuliferce, besides the beauty of their habit and foliage, are amongst the most useful of plants. 

 Not only do they furnish us with a valuable fuel, but their wood, being [often] close-grained, nearly im- 

 perishable, and easily worked, is used in the manufacture of agricultural and other implements, furniture, 

 and utensils of all sorts, as well as in the construction of machines, buildings, ships, &c. These trees 

 often attain a size which indicates a prodigious longevity. There are in Italy Ohesnuts with the trunk of 

 40, 75, and even 160 feet in circumference, and which must certainly have been in existence many thousand 

 years. [This is a disputed statement.] There were formerly in France many Oaks which were 

 certainly cotemporaries of the Druids, i.e. the Oak of Autrage, in Alsace, whose trunk at the ground 

 measured 45 feet in circumference when it was cut down in 1858 and sold by auction. That of .Allou- 

 ville, in Normandy, in which, 200 years ago, a chapel was hollowed out, is of about the same size. The 

 largest Oak still existing in France is that of Montravail, near Saintes, 27 feet in diameter and upwards 

 of 80 feet in circumference. It is very advisable that these venerable monuments of the Vegetable 

 Kingdom should be placed under State protection, like the historical monuments erected by the hand 

 of man. 



Cupitliferce possess, amongst other principles, tannin and gallic acid, which give them astringent pro- 

 perties, useful in medicine and manufactures. The bark of Quercus tinctoria, a large species, of the forests 

 of Pennsylvania, is exported to Europe [as Quercitron] on account of the richness of its yellow colouring 

 principle ; it is also used in America for the tanning of leather. The bark of the European species ( Q. 

 Hobur, pedunculata, puhescens, Cerris) is dried and pulverized as tan, and similarly used. Q. cocdfera, a 

 Mediterranean shrub, is the food of the Kermes, an hemipterous insect of the cochineal tribe, which is 

 collected for dyeing silk and wool crimson. Q. Sober grows in the south of France and Spain ; the outer 

 spongy part of its bark is the elastic substance known as Cork. The acorns of most Oaks contain a 

 large quantity of starch, a fixed oil, and a bitter astringent substance ; baked and treated with boiling 

 water they yield a highly tonic drink, which is successfully administered in the shape of coffee to children 

 of a lymphatic temperament. The acorns of Q. Ilex, Ballota, JEsculzis, and j^gilops have no bitter orharsh 

 principle, and to this day are used as food by the inhabitants of some parts of the Mediterranean region, 

 and especially of Algeria. The leaves of Q. mannifera, a Kurdistan species, secrete a sugary matter. 

 The cups of Q. JEgilops are the object of a considerable .commerce for dyeing black and for tanning 

 leather. 



Various species of Oak, and principally Q. JEgilops, yield Galls, formed by a hymenopterous insect 

 which pierces the petiole to deposit its eggs ; the vegetable juices are extravasated at the spot, and form 

 an excrescence containing gallic acid and tannin. Our writing ink is made by an infusion of gall-nuts in 

 a solution of a salt of iron (green copperas). The Beech {Fagns sylvatica) bears angular fruits, called 

 ?nast, the seed of which is oily and of a pleasant taste ; hut if too largely eaten, they cause headache and 

 vertigo. The Ohesnut (Castanea vesca) produces farinaceous seeds which, eaten raw, are astringent, but 

 furnish, if cooked or baked, an agreeable and wholesome food. The so-called Lyons Ohesnut is only an 

 improved variety of the common Ohesnut. 



CCXII. CORYLACEJE. 



(Castanbakum pars, Adanson. — Ameittaceaetjm pars, Jussieu. — Cupuliferabum 

 pars, Richard. — Coetlaoeje, Hartig, Alph. B.C.) 



Flowers dicUltous, in spihes, the $ aehlamydeous, furnished with a staminiferous 

 hract. Flowers 2 geminate on a tract, furnished with very accrescent bracteoles. 

 Veuiantu single, irregularly loled. Oyauy inferior, pa/rtially 2-celled, 2-ovuled; ovules 



