De Saporta 



George Engelmann Papers. 



Letter from De Saporta - received Aug. 18, 1876 

 answered April 23, 1880 



Fonscolombe by Meyzarguer 

 IB. du Rhone 



August 2, 1876 



Sir and Honored Colleague, 



I just now received your letter of July 5th as well as the interesting publications which 

 you have addressed me in the same mail. I learned with greatest interest of your 

 beautifiil work on the oaks in the United States. The questions that you deal with 

 occupies my time at the moment and I have arrived at the same conclusions as you 

 have in the study of the European and Mediterranean oaks. These, like yours' have 

 extreme variations and a polymorphism which hinders us from being more precise in 

 the limitations of our species. Among these species we have a family of subspecies 

 which most of the time was considered a true and typical one, while in reality its 

 characteristics are only defmed or well established in the center of certain normal 

 habitats. 



As an example of this we have our own Quercus pubescens wild from the south of 

 France. Here it is very recognizable and differs not only by the pubescens of the 

 leaves but also by the pores of the Quercus robur sessiliflora. On climbing towards 

 the north of the mountains one sees less and less of these characteristics as one finds 

 oneself in the presence of the Quercus sessilifora. In regards the Quercus pedunculata 

 it is a more distinguishable subspecies which grows in certain soils and certain regions 

 specially in primitive terrains. In Sweden and Norway one finds only the Q. 

 pedunculata which around here is rare and found far away in the north. The Quercus 

 ilex are polymorphous and very big, producing a type of hybrid which instead of 

 being a Q. ilex is a Lepidobalanus and the Q. coccifera is Cerris with biannual 

 maturation of the acorn. There are some which can be of one or the other with the 

 cupula of the ilex and the biannual maturation of the coccifera. The pores and leaves 

 of the Q. auzandi are intermediary pseudo coccifera (in part defunct). On our 

 continent, close to the Lepidobalanus family the deciduous leaves persist. The Cerris 



