I92 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Q. macranthera (Fischer et Meyer). — This hardy, handsome, * 

 deciduous oak is a native of the Caucasus and Northern Persia. It 

 was, teste Dr. Henry, introduced into Germany before 1873, but does 

 not appear to have reached our shores before 1895. We must have 

 been early in the field to secure an example, for our oldest plant is 

 already quite 25 ft. high, with a girth 3 ft. above ground of 2 ft. 3 in. It 

 is growing freely and ought to make a fine tree ; its existence is recorded 

 in " Trees and Shrubs " in 1908 as well as that of the Kew specimen, 

 which is therein stated to have then reached 20 ft. Botanically, it 

 is closely allied to the Hungarian Q. conferta, and Mr. Bean classes 

 the two with Q. Mirbcckii as three " of the most striking oaks with 

 large leaves." Judging merely from our own examples — a very unsafe 

 method, by the way — -I should say that the leaves of my macrantheras 

 were not so large, so striking, nor so deeply lobed as in the case of 

 our confertas ; and that, as for the older of our Mirbeckiis, they cannot 

 be called conspicuous for largeness of leaf at all. In respect of orna- 

 mental value these three species as they can be seen at Aldenham 

 would catch this judge's eye in the following order — 1 conferta, 2 

 macranthera, 3 Mirbeckii. Both the leaves and twigs of macranthera 

 are markedly downy, and in this respect, though not so glaucous in 

 tone, the tree recalls Q. lanuginosa. Although its natural habitat 

 is Alpine or subalpine, it appears quite happy and at home in the 

 English lowlands. Besides the type, I have two trees 13 ft. 6 in. and 

 13 ft. high respectively, which I bought on the Continent under the 

 name of Q. macranthera Hort. Bot. Berol. 



English experts have thrown doubt on their being macranthera, 

 on account of the absence of the down which is so noticeable a feature 

 in this species. One indeed went so far as to say he believed they 

 were merely forms of our pedunculate, but whatever else Germans 

 may do or have done, I hardly think that the authorities of the Berlin 

 Kew would have given the name of macranthera followed by their 

 own to a form of our English oak. I think it far more probable that 

 they are hybrids of macranthera, possibly fertilized by a peduncu- 

 late. Naming oaks, however, when not in fruit is, as I have written 

 elsewhere, but a hazardous affair. 



Q. macrocarpa (Michaux), Burr Oak. — Though I have only 

 little seedlings of the type, only one of which is as much as 4 ft. in 

 height, yet oddly enough my varieties make a much braver show. 

 Two plants called Q. macrocarpa Herrenhdusen are 18 ft. 6 in. and 14 

 ft. respectively ; these are obviously true to name, and the only thing 

 that I can discover which distinguishes them from the type is that 

 they have not the deep sinus between the lower lobes of the leaves, 

 a feature which usually serves to separate Q. macrocarpa from the 

 kindred Q. bicolor. One known as discolor is also 14 ft. ; another 

 labelled Alberlii reaches 9 ft., but this last, though coming under that 

 name, has been pronounced by experts to be Q. velutina. 



Though originating in Eastern North America, and like all the other 

 white oaks from that quarter of the globe very difficult to domesticate 



