OAKS AT ALDENHAM. 



217 



of the pedunculate oak, where a " weeping " character is assumed 

 quite different from the type. 



My best plant of this species is labelled Q. Toza Velanii, and 

 measures 23 ft. in height by 1 ft. 6 in. in girth ; it is quite a fine tree. 



1 can find no such variety described in the books, and am not botanist 

 enough to say how far it diverges from the type beyond the fact that 

 in this case the branches are not the least pendulous. Bean mentions 

 the special liability of Q. Toza to suffer from autumn gales, but though 

 both Q. imbricaria and Q. Phellos have been severely injured from this 

 cause, so far my Q. Toza have escaped. Though widely spread in 

 Spain and Portugal, it does not seem to have been brought to England 

 until the early part of the nineteenth century, and never seems to 

 have " caught on " or become common in gardens. In spite of its 

 Southern habitat, it seems perfectly hardy even in the colder parts 

 of this country. I have also two hybrids, Q. Toza X macrocarpa, 

 in the nursery, 3 and 2 ft. high, and Q. Toza X Robur, of which the 

 tallest plants are 3 ft. high and 7 ft. 6 in. high respectively. 



It is a great pity that people should go on using the out-of-date 

 name Robur to describe a specific form of oak. Linnaeus, I think, 

 used it to cover pedunculata, sessiliflora, and lanuginosa — which of 

 the three was the father of my oak it would take a far better botanist 

 than I am to decide by looking at it, but the chances are much in favour 

 of its having been the first of the three. This oak seems to lend 

 itself very readily to pollination by other species, the well-known 

 tree at Tortworth, Q. Toza X pedunculata, being a case in point. Be- 

 sides the above I have a fine free-growing tree 33 ft. in height and 



2 ft. 1 in. in girth which has always been called Q. lanuginosa, or one of 

 its synonyms ; this year, however, the experts have pronounced it to be 

 Toza, or Toza X lanuginosa. It is so unlike any Toza that I have ever 

 seen, though nearer to our Q. Toza Velanii than to any other, that I 

 regard the latter view as more likely to be correct. One reason which 

 makes me think it unlikely to be pure Toza is, that whereas that species 

 comes into leaf along with the other oaks, this, though very vigorous, 

 is quite the last, and on June 1 of this year no buds had opened. 

 Although this may be a disadvantage from the ornamental stand- 

 point, at least it ensures its escape from one of the greatest draw- 

 backs to the acclimatization of exotics, namely, late spring frosts. 



When the leaves, which are usually over 3 in. long, do at length 

 appear, their under side is covered with a grey down or tomentum, 

 which produces a glaucous effect and contrasts pleasingly with the 

 green in the landscape. 



Q. X Turneri (Willdenow). — I have two good-sized specimens of 

 this hybrid between Q. Ilex and Q. pedunculata ; in the case of one the 

 pruning-knife has, alas, been neglected. It has been allowed to grow 

 into a big bush instead of being compelled to assume a tree form, 

 and it is now too late to remedy the fault. In the case of the 

 other, although it would have been taller and better-proportioned 

 if some stout boughs had been removed near the base at an earlier 



