FLORA AND SYLVA 
Common Oak of our heavy Wealden 
lands, the stem is more erect, more cy- 
lindrical, and while less branching pro- 
duces a greater proportion of heavy bran- 
ches, which are freer and less twisted. 
The foliage is easily known even at a 
distance by its deepergreen colour, more 
even distribution, and greater density, 
while the entire tree is often more lofty, 
and with a more regular and compact 
outline. The leaves are larger and hang 
more loosely upon their longer foot- 
stalks ; they also last a little longer than 
those of the Common Oak, and saplings 
(particularly in sheltered places and in 
mild winters) often keep much of their 
green foliage until the new leaves come. 
Even when naked the tree may be known 
by its fuller leaf-buds, its own way of 
branching, and its whiter bark, and in 
autumn by its stemless clusters ofacorns. 
Its area is much the same as that 
of the Common Oak, but, while 
it is more restricted to the north and I 
east, it reaches much further south as ! 
the "White Oak" of the Mediterranean 
region, where it thrives on the northern 
shores but does not extend into Africa. 
In the north it covers parts of Scotland 
and deflects thence more or less regu- 
larly eastward to the Volga, and from 
there curves sharply across to the Crimea 
and Asia Minor. It abounds in various 
forms throughout the south of Europe, 
being found at heights of 4,000 feet in 
the mountains of Corsica, nearly 5,000 
feet in the Pyrenees, and an even greater 
elevation in the south of Italy, where 
it is abundant in the form of pure forests 
— as upon the slopes of Mount Etna. 
The great Oak forests of France are ! 
largely of the Durmast Oak, especially 
the famous truffle-forests of the south- 
east. 
Soil. 
But while the Common Oak 
is a tree of the great plains 
and valleys, the Durmast Oak clings to 
the hills, plateaux, and mountain spurs, 
ascending high enough to be found 
among the Pines, and this, not because 
it is hardier than the great Oak of the 
plains, but more resistant to a dry atmos- 
phere and poor soils. The moist, stiff 
soils that suit the Common Oak, are 
quite unsuited to the Durmast Oak, 
which seeks light, gravelly, sandy, or 
rocky soils, with a certain quantity of 
clay to secure the moisture which is in- 
dispensable to it. It is not so happy 
upon chalk or limestone, but though 
uncommon, it flourishes in the neigh- 
bourhood of London, where layers of 
clay alternate with beds of gravel. As 
regards temperature there is little differ- 
ence between the two trees, although 
its more restricted northern range pre- 
sumably makes the Durmast Oak less 
fitted to resist severe cold. On the other 
hand its power of resisting a dry climate 
carries it considerably further south than 
the Common Oak. 
The bark varies much ac- 
cording to the quality of the 
wood. If this is supple and of rapid 
growth, the bark is hard, blackish, and 
much ribbed broad and lengthways, be- 
coming ultimately very thick, but if the 
growth is delicate and slow, the bark 
is thinner, yellowish-brown, and finely 
ribbed, with an outer layer of corky 
matter which is apt to scale off. The 
Durmast Oak yields richer tan than the 
Wood. 
