194 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Q. Michauxii (Nuttall). — Dr. Henry broadly states in " Trees and 

 Shrubs," p. 1309, that it "is not in cultivation." The plant which I 

 bought under that name from the nursery at Muskau, in or about 

 1902, has merely existed for the last sixteen years, and is a shabby, 

 unhealthy specimen ; it has been examined by Mr. Bruce Jackson, 

 a very careful observer, who pronounces it not true to name, though 

 he is not able to say what oak it is. I can only say that, if he be 

 right, it is one of the very few instances, out of a large variety of 

 trees bought by me from that excellent tree nursery, where that charge 

 can be justly brought. 



No description is given of it in Elwes' book. Its habitat is the 

 Eastern United States, southward from Delaware to Florida, and west- 

 ward to Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri. As for its appearance when 

 healthy, my plant forms no basis for an account at first hand. In 

 support of Mr. Jackson's scepticism, I am bound to admit that the 

 foliage of my example bears little resemblance to the leaf figured on the 

 plate in " Trees of Great Britain." The Bureau of Plant Immigration 

 at Washington are most kindly trying to obtain for me an undoubted 

 specimen of this species. 



Q. Mirbeckii (Durieu). — This is a fine hardy deciduous tree, somewhat 

 in the same genre as Q. conferia, but not to my mind so striking or con- 

 spicuous. It usually reaches a height of some 60 ft. or more in England, 

 but in its own habitat of Algeria, from which it was first introduced 

 in 1845 or thereabouts, it is said to grow to double that height. 



For a foreign oak it is fairly often to be found in English collections, 

 and it is, I believe, worth growing for timber. Various fine trees ranging 

 from 40 to 75 ft. are recorded in England by Mr. Elwes, but none o 

 mine yet exceed 16 ft. 6 in. X 1 ft., and they are certainly not a good 

 or showy form, for, however much they may differ botanically, the 

 general effect of their foliage is not noticeably distinct from that of 

 the English oak, though the leaves may be retained a trifle longer by 

 this than by the indigenous species. A suspicion is steadily growing 

 in my mind that these trees, though raised from acorns growing on 

 a true Mirbeckii, have been fertilized by neighbouring pedunculates, 

 and are really hybrids ; I am not, however, botanist enough to express 

 a confident opinion. 



According to Bean's book, the leaves are from 3 to 7 in. long 

 by 1 J to 3 J in. wide, but on the Aldenham trees, which number 

 eight or ten, I have not found a leaf which exceeds 3 in. On the other 

 hand, I have seen samples of the leaves of a Q. Mirbeckii growing 

 at Ham Manor in which many of the leaves exceeded 6 in. in length 

 and some attained 7 in., and as this specimen is 60 ft. high this is not 

 one of those common cases where the foliage is abnormally developed, 

 only so long as the plant is quite young and immature. The more 

 I see of oaks (and in the process of preparing this article I have ex- 

 amined a great many besides those in our own collection) the more I 

 realize how important it is to get a good form of a tree ; the Aldenham 

 Mirbeckii may be just as true to name as the Ham Manor or Tort worth 



