1938 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



ever, (Mod, Trav. : Palestine.) who h:is collected the opinions of all these 

 authors, doubts the correctness of all of them; observing, " If it be anything 



more than a table, it must have been a production peculiar to that part of 

 Palestine, or it would not have excited such general attention. It is possible 

 that what they (Tacitus and Josephus) describe may have originated, Wee the 

 oak galls iii this country, in the work of some insect." A. B. Lambert, Esq., 

 having received some of these far-famed apples (" Mala insana") from the 

 mountains east of the Dead Sea, whence they had been brought by the Hon. 

 Robert Curzon, read an account of -them before the Linniean Society, proving 

 them to be galls of a species of oak containing an insect. No description is 

 given by Mr. Lambert of the insect; but Mrt Westwood, who furnished this 

 article,' states that it belongs to the family Cynfpidae, and is infested para- 

 sitieallv by a species of the family /chneum6nidae. Mr. Lambert, by some 

 accident, was led into the supposition that the Dead Sea apples are identical 

 with the galls of commerce {Linn. Trans., xvii. p. 446.) ; but 

 this is not the case. Olivier, in speaking of this insect, and the 

 gall produced by it, says that both differ from those of the 

 tauzin oak (Q. pyrenaica: see fig. 1697. p. 1842.); and that 

 the insect (Jig. 1825.) has a body of brown and fawn-colour mixed, with the 

 antennae blackish. (Trav., Eng. ed. 2., p. 43.) 



Q. Libani Oliv., t. 49. f. 2., N. Du Ham., 7. p. 167. t. 49. f. 2., and 

 our Jig. 1S26., has the leaves on petioles, oblong, smooth, shining, and den- ^^ * °~™ 



tated, with mucros at the points of the teeth. The acorns are of a round- 

 ish oval, a little hollow at the summit. The scales of the calyx are placed 

 close together, and scarcely imbricate. The branches are of a reddish 

 brown, and perfectly glabrous. This oak, which hears some resemblance 

 in its leaves to those of the chestnut, was discovered on Mount Lebanon by 

 Olivier, who sent home specimens of it to Dcsfonlaines. The leaves are 

 perfectly glabrous on both sides, shining, and of a lively green above j 

 and the' teeth are distinctly marked by a sharp and conspicuous mucro. 

 The acorns are sessile, or on very short peduncles ; the nut is large, de- 

 pressed, rather hollow at the summit, and enveloped for more than 

 half its length in a cup, the scales of which are rather soldered together 

 side by side, than imbricated : the centre of each only is a little pro- 

 minent, like those of the cones of some kinds of pine. {N. Du Ham.) 

 It does not appear that living plants of this species have ever been 

 brought to Europe. The figure in the Nouveau Du Hamel, of which 

 ours is a reduced copy, was taken from a dried specimen in the herbarium of Desfontaines. 

 From the appearance of the cup, this would seem a very distinct species. 



Q. rigida Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 434., N. Du Ham., 7. p. 161., Rees's Cycl., No. 36.; ? /'lex acu- 

 leata, fee., Tourn. Cor., 40. Leaves oblong, undivided, with spinous serratures, smooth ; glaucous 

 beneath; heart-shaped at the base. Footstalks bearded at the summit. Scales of the calyx rigid, 

 •preading. {IVi/ld.) A native of the coast of Caramania, in Asiatic Turkey. The branches are 

 pale brown, dotted. The leaves are oblong, 1 in. or more in length, rigid, with spiny serratures ; 

 deep green and shining above; glaucous beneath ; heart-shaped at the base. Footstalks very short, 

 smooth, but furnished on each side with a line of brownish hairs, which is carried on up the midrib 

 of the leaf. The acorn is sessile ; and the calyx is beset with rigid, woody, lanceolate, spreading scales. 

 <l ibirtca Stev. in Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc, 4. p. 70. M. a., Bieb. Fl. Taur.-L'auc, 2. p. 402. 

 No l'i| .;., .;. p. 920, leaves ovate-oblong, downy beneath, sinuated; lobes short, blunt, somewhat 

 serrated ; serratures blunt. Fruit almost sessile. Scales of the cup mucronnte. {FAchwald Planter 

 Cfixjiiro-Caucasiru-, 2. p. 40. t. 38.) A native of Cieorgia and Imiretia. Bark smooth, not corky, 

 greyish. Petioles 2 — 4 lines long, somewhat downy or glabrous, semicylindrical. Leaves from 

 1 in. to 1 1 in. long, and from 2 in. to 3 in. broad ; obovate-oblong, acute; truncated at the base, some- 

 what arrow-shaped ; glabrous above; densely covered with white tomentum beneath ; sinuated ; lobes 

 abort, somewhat ovate, obtuse, or rather acute, somewhat serrated ; serratures blunt. Male flowers 

 ed in aggregate catkins, 2 — 5 springing from one bud; lateral, slender, interrupted. Raehia 

 thread-like, pubescent Perianth deeply 6— -(i-clcft; the divisions linear, ciliated. Stamens 5 — 10. 



1 lie flowers unknown. [Ibid., 2. p. 41.) 



o < ti'ttijna j,jlia ( . A. Meyer. Bark smooth. Leaves on footstalks, oblong-lanceolate; hairy 



bCMHtlj ; thickly serrated ; serratures somewhat miicronate. Cups sessile, solitary, hemispherical. 



Valet linear-lanceolate, thickly imbricated the contrary way. Nut oblong-cylindrical. A tree, a 



native of Mazain.er.in, near the town of lialfrush. A very distinct and beautiful species. Bark of 



the branches and twi^s membranaceous (never corky), yellow, warted. Petioles \ in. to 1 in. long, 



r, tomewbat glabrous; flat above, convex beneath. Smaller leaves 2$ in. long, and !) to JO lines 



broad ; larger ones 4 in. to 1% in. long, and J J in. to 1' in. broad ; all of them oblong. lanceolate, round, 



and frequently unequal, at the base, more or less pointed, thickly serrated ; serratures blunt, pointed 



with kmall nUCTM scarcely £ a line long) ; shining above, rarely covered with stellate down ; hairy 



beneath from minute stellate down, ash-coloured; veins parallel, prominent, having long hairs at, 



• lie Male flower^ not seen. Cups Literal or terminal, sessile, hemispherical, 8 to 10 lines in 



diameter , clothed in the mside with copious, soft, simple hairs ; externally, with numerous, downy, 



■ ile , about 3 lines long ; and, towards the base, 1 line broad, all of them more or 



Icm pointed, rigid, Imbricated the contrary way Nut. ]\ in. long, cylindrical, 8 or 4 times as long as 



the cop; tbickJsh at the base, blunt at the apex; mucronale, smooth, reddish brown. [Eichtuald 



Plan/,/ CoipiCO CattCOSica, 1. p. U. t. 1. ; and our fig. 1827.) 



(j mongolica Piach A rare 'perns, indigenous to the banks of the Argun in Tartary, and 



apparent!) of dhninutire growth. There have been plants since 1836 In the F18tbeck Nurseries, 

 appeal perfectly hardy, {Booth.) We trust that in 1838, or even before, this species will be 

 Intro gland. 



