FOREST TREES. 



207 



Q. Wislizcni. — A. DC. — Leaves smooth, dark green and shining, 

 one to three, rarely four inches long, by one to two broad, 

 varying in shape from narrowly-lanceotatc to broadly oval, 

 entire or serrate, or often sinuate, dentate or lobed. Cups tur- 

 binate, very deep, or even tubular, one half to an inch deep, 

 covered with brown lanceolate scales. Acorns slender, tapering, 

 often an inch and a half long. Leaves very persistent, and the 

 acorns maturing in the second season. A large tree, fifty to 

 sixty feet high, and common in the lower valleys of California. 

 Var. f nitescens, Engelmann, is a shrub from three to ten feet 

 high, known in the Sierra Nevadas as Desert Oak. 



HYBRID OAKS. 



There have been from time to time single specimens of oak 

 trees found in different parts of the country that did not ap- 

 pear to agree with the recognized distinctive characteristics 

 of any of the indigenous species. It has been claimed for 

 many years that some of the number at least were hybrids, and 

 Dr. Engelmann favored this idea, and gives a list of those 

 known to him in the monograph to which I have already re- 

 ferred. In this list he places the Bartram Oak, and the Quer- 

 cus Leana, of Nuttall's Sylva, and several other unique forms 

 of our indigenous oaks. 



rOREIG^^ SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



Of all the foreign species of the oak, the European or Eng- 

 lish oak, Quercus Eobur is probably the most familiar to the 

 people of this country, and were we in want of any additional 

 species for planting in forests, this one could be recommended, 

 as it is closely related to our White Oaks, but we have such a 

 large number of species of our own that we have no good rea- 

 son for introducing anything from abroad of the kind, except 

 for ornamental purposes. The European oak has yielded many 

 beautiful varieties, among which I may name the Purple-leaved, 

 Golden-leaved, Mottled-leaved, Cut-leaved, Weeping oak, and nu- 

 merous varieties to be found named in nurserymen's catalogues. 

 Besides these, there are several varieties of the Turkey Oak 

 {Q. cerris) in cultivation, and recently several handsome spe- 

 cies and varieties of the oak have been introduced from Japan, 

 among them the noble Daimio Oak, which may at some future 

 time be planted as a forest tree in this country, but my limited 

 space will not admit of even enumerating the large number of 

 species of foreign oaks, however much I might desire to do so. 



