10 THE TREES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



Ditto with persistent leaves. 



Q. pseudo-suber, false Cork-tree. Italy. 



Q. ^Egilops, Valonia e. Levant. 



Q. coccifera h , Kermes Oak. South of France. 



The only Oak mentioned by Hooker as occurring 

 in Syria, which is not indigenous in Europe, is 

 Q. infectoria, abounding in red galls, and placed on 

 that account by Spach, in a distinct section, Gal- 

 lifera, under which head Endlicher includes also 

 Q. humilis, Q. aJpestris, and Q. Uispanica or lusitanica, 

 which latter, however, Gay places under Cerris. 



Let us now endeavour to identify these species 

 with the varieties of Oak enumerated by Pliny. 



The first two, Quercus and Robur, are often given 

 by ancient writers as generic terms for the Oaks, 

 or acorn-bearing trees ; but in his 16th Book, in 

 which he mentions the several varieties of the 

 genus Quercus, Pliny, as M. Fee thinks, would 

 apply the term Quercus and Robur to the two 

 varieties of Quercus robur, the sessiliflora and ped- 

 unculata, recognised by modern botanists. 



As, however, the distinction between these two 

 varieties is one of a botanical kind, hardly likely 

 to be recognised by a Roman naturalist, being de- 

 pendent on the fruit being in the one case attached 



* JEgilops is found in Syria, and its acorns, which are often very 

 large, are eaten by man. Ilooker, Linn. Tr., v. xxiii. 



In Syria the most common Oak is pseudo-coccifera, which Hooker 

 thinks may be a variety of coccifera, Linn. Tr., vol. xxiii. Abraham's 

 Oak at Mamre, of which Hooker gives a drawing, is of this species. 



