1 88 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



pollination by wind of the former by the latter in the Exeter nursery 

 of a gardener named Lucombe between 150 and 160 years ago. The 

 original Lucombe oak still stands, and at the time of Mr. Lucombe's 

 death it had already grown big enough to enable the boards of his 

 coffin to be cut from one of its branches. 



It is too familiar with tree-lovers to need any prolonged description 

 here. Like most hybrids Lucombe seedlings vary greatly in respect 

 of the extent to which they approach one or other of their parents. 

 Among other points of difference some are deciduous and others in 

 mild winters quite evergreen ; those plants which I have seen in fruit 

 all bore very small acorns. This tree is not extensively represented 

 in the " Hortus Aldenhamensis," but I have three specimens which 

 luckily illustrate almost the extreme of difference possible in Lucombe ; 

 indeed, they diverge to such an extent that one has constantly to 

 remind oneself of the hybrid origin in order to retain the belief that 

 they have one parentage. The eldest is a fine free-growing shapely 

 pyramid with clean straight stem 29 ft. high, with a girth of 2 ft. 

 3 in. at 3 ft. above the ground. Except that the leaves average about 

 3 in. in length instead of 2 in., they are in other respects just those 

 of a typical Suber, having the dark glossy green surface and smooth 

 grey felty under side characteristic of that species ; moreover, they are 

 practically persistent. Only in the look of the stem is there any 

 trace of Cerris pedigree. The two younger plants, on the other hand, 

 show very much of the Turk, and do not yet disclose to the non- 

 botanic eye any corky origin : the leaves are small and rather crumpled, 

 and remind one of the variety of Q. Cerris known as crispa. These 

 two specimens are 8 and 10 ft. high respectively. It is fortunate 

 that however much these seedlings of Lucombe may differ in outward 

 looks, they one and all, as far as I know, inherit the cold-resisting 

 properties of their Cerris mother instead of the tenderness of their 

 Suber father. A fine specimen of the Lucombe oak is growing at Otteiy 

 St. Mary, near Exeter, in the grounds of my friend Lord Coleridge ; 

 it measures 69 ft. in height, with a girth of 4 ft. from the ground of 

 10 ft. 5 in. It reproduces all the characteristics of Lucombe's original 

 hybrid a few miles away, and is no doubt one of its offspring. 



Of the four or five recognized and named varieties of the Lucombe 

 oak, I can only boast of possessing two, viz. diver si jolia and fulhamensis. 

 The former is a neat, shapely little plant some 5 ft. high, of which 

 fine specimens are to be seen at Kew, which exactly correspond with 

 ours in foliage. This variety of the Lucombe hybrid presents one 

 of the quaintest and most striking instances of leaf variation with 

 which I am acquainted. It is so well described by Mr. Bean that 

 I venture to quote from his account verbatim: "Leaves of extra- 

 ordinary shapes ; usually the middle part of the blade is reduced 

 to a narrow strip about \ in. wide each side the midrib, widening at 

 the apex like the bowl of a spoon, sometimes entire, sometimes three 

 or five lobed : the base with from one to five shallow or deep, rounded, 

 or pointed lobes. The leading types of leaves may be described as 

 fiddle-shaped and spoon-shaped. Bark corky ; habit very erect ; 



