CHAP. CV. 



CORYLA CE^E. QUE 'ROUS. 



i 9 I 9 



wild state, and arc often denticulated 

 even on old trees. The acorns are of 

 an elongated oval form, nearly black, 

 and are contained in greyish pedun- 

 culated cups. The fruit is sometimes 

 very abundant, and it germinates with 

 such ease, that, if the weather is rainy 

 at the season of its maturity, many 

 acorns are found on the trees with 

 the radicle unfolded. In British gar- 

 dens, this tree is no where found 

 higher than a large shrub, it requiring 

 rather a warmer climate to attain a 

 timber-like size. There is a tree at 

 Kew, between 40 ft. and 50 ft. high ; 

 and a handsome small tree at the 

 Duke of Devonshire's, and some in 

 the Hackney arboretum. In the 



neighbourhood of Paris, the live oak and Q. aqimtica, Bosc informs us, are 

 the only two American species that are found to be tender. 



Geography and History. The live oak is confined to the maritime parts 

 of the southern states of North America, where it is known by the name of 

 the live oak. Its most northern boundary is Norfolk, in Virginia. " From 

 Norfolk it spreads along the coast for a distance of 1500 or 1800 miles, ex- 

 tending beyond the mouth of the Mississippi. The sea air seems essential to 

 its existence; for it is rarely found in forests upon the mainland, and never 

 more than 15 or 20 miles from the sea." (Michx.) It is most abundant, and 

 of the best quality, on the shores of the bays and creeks of the southern 

 states ; and on the fertile islands, which lie in great numbers scattered along 

 the coasts for several hundreds of miles. " I frequently saw it," says Michaux, 

 " upon the beach, or half-buried in the movable sands upon the downs, where 

 it had preserved its freshness and vigour, though exposed during a long lapse 

 of time to the fury of the wintry tempest, and to the ardour of the summer's 

 sun." (A T . Amer. Syl., i. p. 58.) The live oak was one of those discovered 

 by Banister, and it was by him called Q. sempervirens. Catesby, in his 

 Natural History of Carolina, p. 17., describes it as a pyramidal tree, 40 ft. high, 

 in the salt marshes of Carolina. He adds that the acorns are remarkably 

 sweet, and were used by the Indians to thicken their venison soup, and for 

 expressing an oil, which was very much like the oil of sweet almonds. The 

 first record of this tree that we have in England is, that it was in cultivation 

 by Miller in 1739 ; but it does not appear to have been much planted, as we 

 have not received an account of any old trees of this species now existing in 

 England. In America, there is said to be a very large live oak at Goose 

 Creek, near Charleston, which measures 45 ft. in circumference close to the 

 ground, and 18ft. Gin. at its smallest part: its largest limb is 12ft. 6 in. in 

 girt. A modern traveller, Mr. Stuart, in his Three Years in North America, 

 published in 1833, thus speaks of the live oak, whilst describing his journey 

 from Georgetown to Charleston: — " On this day's journey, I first saw, and 

 in great numbers, the most valuable of the American trees, the Quercus 

 virens, the most durable of oaks. It flourishes most on lands adjacent to salt 

 water. It is almost as heavy as lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale). Its trunk 

 is generally not long ; but its crooked branches frequently spread over more 

 than a quarter of an acre of ground. The wood of this tree is almost incor- 

 ruptible. It was on account of the abundance of this tree in Florida, fit foi 

 building ships of war, that the Americans showed the great anxiety, which 

 was at last gratified in 1819, to add Florida to their extensive territories, and 

 which has led the general government, since its acquirement, to lay out very 

 large sums in the preservation and establishment of live oak plantations in 

 Florida. Indeed, I have heard of the formation of plantations on a large scale 



G i 



