CHAP. CV. 



CORYLA CEM. QUE'RCUS. 



1897 



and tenacity, and to split less easily than that of the white oak ; hence, after 

 having been thoroughly seasoned, it is employed for the felloes of wheels. In 

 Georgia, fences are sometimes made of this oak ; but they do not last longer 

 than eight or ten years. As fuel, the wood of this tree sells at the lowest 

 price. Several of the varieties mentioned have been introduced into Britain ; 

 but we have never seen any of them except one, which has the leaves rather 

 broader than those of the species, but which is hardly worth keeping distinct. 

 It is highly probable that, in our soil and climate, all those differences in the 

 magnitude of the plant, and in the character of the foliage, produced by the 

 geographical and geological circumstances by which the tree is accompanied 

 in America, disappear, or, rather, are never produced. The tree, in England, 

 is one of the hardiest and most rapid-growing of American oaks; and it 

 may be also characterised as the least beautiful, its foliage being light in 

 colour, thinly spread over the tree, and dying off, in autumn, with very little 

 change. 



Statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, it is 64 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6 in., 

 and of the head 47 ft. (see the portrait of this tree in our last Volume) ; in the Mile-End Nursery it 

 is 34 ft. high; at Whitton Place it is 70ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 6in. ; at Ken- 

 wood, Hampstead, 60 years planted, it is 40 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 4 in., and 

 of the head 44 ft. In Devonshire, in the Exeter Nursery, 53 years planted, it is 26 ft. high, with 

 a trunk 1ft. 6 in. in diameter ; in Surrey, at Pepper Harrow, it is 70ft. high; in Wiltshire, at 

 Longleat, 65 years planted, it is 38ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 7 in., and of the head 

 14 ft; in Worcestershire, at Croome, 40 years planted, it is 35 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 

 10 in., and of the head 15 ft. In France, at Toulon, in the Botanic Garden, 36 years planted, it is 

 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 7 in. In Austria, near Vienna, at Briick on the Leytha, 

 20 years old, it is 7 ft. high. In Lombardy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 44 ft. high, the diameter 

 of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 20 ft. 



Commercial Statistics. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 2*. 6d. each, 

 and acorns 5s. per bushel. Seedling plants of one year are 10$. per hundred ; 

 one year transplanted, 25s. per hundred. At Boll wy Her plants are 3 francs 

 each ; and at New York plants are 37| cents each. 



2 27. Q. (P.) Z.aurifo v lia Willd. 



The Laurel-leaved Oak. 



Michx. Quer., 



Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 427. ; Ait, Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 



No. 10. ; N. Du Ham., 7. p. 153. ; Smith in Rees's Cycl., No. 14. 

 Synonymes. The Laurel Oak, Swamp Willow Oak. 

 Engravings. Michx. Quer., t. 17. ; and our jig. 1776. 



Spec. Char., tyc. Leaves obovate, entire, smooth, nearly sessile ; tapering at 

 the base. Nut roundish, even. (Smith.) A tree, 50ft. or 60 ft. high; a 

 native of South Carolina and Georgia. Introduced in 1786. 



Variety. 



% Q. (P.) 1. 2 kijbrida Michx. Quer., No. 10. t. 18., and our Jig. 1775.; Q. I. 2 obtusa Ait. 

 Hart. Kew., ed. 2., v. p. 288., Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., ii. p. 627. ; has rather more obtuse 

 leaves than the species. This variety is supposed, by the elder Michaux, to be a hybrid 

 between Q. aquatica and Q. Zaurifolia; 

 because the shape of its leaves resembles 

 the former species, while the general cha- 

 racter and habit of growth of the tree 

 resemble those of Q. Zaurifdlia. It grows 



on the banks of the rivers in the pine 

 barrens, where the soil, at a little distance 

 from the water, is only a dry sand. 



Description, Sfc. This oak, which rises 

 to the height of 50 ft., or 60 ft., is said by 

 the elder Michaux to be very nearly allied to Q . Phellos. He adds that its timber 

 is very valuable, resembling that of the live oak, which is considered preferable 



