1918 



AHBOKETUM AND FKUTICETUM. 



TAUT III. 



to be closely allied to Q. Turner* : but, the leaves of the former will always 

 be found to be somewhat downy beneath ; while those of Q. Turner* are 

 perfectly smooth, and of the same colour on both sides. Neither sort 

 appears to show the least indication, at present, of corkiness in the bark ; 

 though trees of Q. Suber in both places, standing near them, have the 

 bark decidedly corky. Unless, therefore, we could see the tree at Versailles, 

 w e cannot decide whether the plant in British gardens is that discovered 

 by Desfontaines, or not. If it is, it certainly appears much more nearly 

 allied to the group Tcrris than to that of /Hex. The tree in Loddiges's 

 arboretum is "/ ft. high, and, in February, 1837, had lost every leaf; as had, 

 with the exception of a very few, that in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 

 in 1S35, when it was of about the same age and size. After all, we 

 think it extremely probable, that the tree at Muswell Hill is the Q. Pseudo- 

 ■Suber of Desfontaines ; but as we have not seen the acorns, either of that 

 tree, or of the Q. Pseudo-5uber in the Horticultural Society's Garden, or 

 at Messrs. Loddiges's, we should not consider ourselves justified in deciding 

 on the point. We may possibly be able to do so in our Supplement. 



b. Natives of North America. 



§ ix. Virentes. Live Oaks, 



Sect. Char. Leaves oblong-lanceolate ; dentate, and variously cut when 

 young; but, on full-grown trees, quite entire. Bark smooth, black. Fruc- 

 tification biennial. Cup imbricate. Nut long. Low trees, or shrubs; rather 

 tender in Britain, and not attaining a timber-like size north of London. 



* 36. Q. vi^rens Ait. The green, or Live, Oak. 



Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 356., ed. 2., 5. p. 287. ; N. Du Ham. 7. p. 151. ; Willd. 



Sj>. PL, 4. p. 425. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., p. 626. ; Michx. Quer., No. 6. j Smith in Rees's Cycl., 



No. 5. 

 Si/noni/mcs. (h Pht'llos /3 Lin. Sp. PL, 1412. ; Q. sempervirens Banister and Walt. Car., 234. 

 Engravings. Michx. Quer.,t. 10, 11. ; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t. 12 ; our Jigs. 1802. and 1803; and the plate 



Of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., cfc. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, revolute, entire, point- 

 less; obtuse at the base ; clothed with starry down beneath. Fruit stalked. 

 Nut oblong. ( Willd. and Smith.) 



Description. The live oak is commonly 40 ft. or 45 ft. high, with a trunk 

 from 1 ft. to 2 ft. in diameter; but it is sometimes much larger; and a hollow 

 tree of it was felled at Charleston, which had a trunk 24 ft. in circumference. 

 " Like most other trees," says Michaux, " it has, when insulated, a wide and 

 tufted summit. Its trunk is sometimes undivided for 18 ft. or 20 ft.; but it 

 often ramifies at half this height, and, at a 

 distance, has the appearance of an old apple 

 or pear tree." (N. Amer. Syl., i. p. 58.) The 

 bark is blackish and hard. The wood is 

 heavy, compact, fine-grained, and of a yellow- 

 ish colour, which deepens as the tree advances 

 in age. The number and closeness of the 

 concentric circles evince the slowness of its 

 growth, and the probability of its great dura- 

 tion, from the much larger proportion of 

 fibroui than of cellular tissue in its compo- 

 sition. The leaves arc oval, coriaceous, of 

 ■ dark green above, and whitish beneath : 

 they persist during several years, but are par- 

 tially renewed every spring. On old trees, 

 growing wild in the forests, they are always 

 entire, as thowfl Wk fig, IHO^. ; but, on seed- 

 ling-, of 2 or 8 yean old, they are rery dis- 

 tinctly toothed, as m fig, \Hi)'.i. On trees growing in cool soils, or reared in 

 plantations, they are one half larger than those on the trees usually found in a 



