Herb. p. 762, with a figure. — Purt. Mid. FI. v. ii. p. 459. — Relh. FI. Cant. (3rd ed.) 
p. 395. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 273. — Grev. FI. Edin. p. 202. — FI. Devon, pp. 155 and 
133. — Johnst. FI. of Berw. v. i. p. 206. — Winch’s FI. of Northumbl. and Durh. p. 
61. — Walker’s FI. of Oxf. p. 281. — Bab. FI. Bath. p. 46. — Dick. FI. Abred. p. 56. — 
Luxf. Reig. FI. p. 82.— Cow. FI. Guide, p. 43. — Mack. Catal. PI. Irel. p. 83. ; FI. 
Hibern. p. 255. — Quercus Pedunculdta, Willd. Sp. PI. v.iv. p.450. — Abbot’s FI. 
Bedf. p. 210.— Loud. Arb. et Frutic. Brit. p. 1731. f. 1567; PI. 281, a., 282, and 
282, a . — Lindl. FI. Med. p. 291. — Quercus longceva, Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 
247. — Q.foemina, With. (5th ed.) v. ii. p. 480. — Q. latifolia, Ray’s Syn. p. 440. 
— Q. vulgaris, Johnson’s Gerarde, pp. 1339, 1340. 
Localities. — In woods and hedges, everywhere. 
A Tree. — Flowers in April. 
A large and very handsome tree, growing to the height of 50, or 
even 100 feet, with a rough bark, and widely extended, nearly 
horizontal, and somewhat flexuose or zigzag branches, and spray ; 
and, when standing singly, with ahead often broader than it is high. 
Leaves alternate, nearly sessile, smooth, shining above ; paler, and 
slightly glaucous beneath, with a single mid-rib, and veins passing 
into the lobes. Sterile Flowers in long, slender, drooping, many- 
flowered, deciduous catkins; fertile ones on axillary, simple pe- 
duncles, 2 or 3 on each peduncle, small, brownish-green ; their 
outer calyx becoming much enlarged, and hardened, and consti- 
tuting the well-known permanent cup of the smooth, finally deci- 
duous, nut, or acorn. 
The uses of this noble and most important tree are well known. The wood is 
hard and tough, veiy durable, tolerably flexible; not easily splintering; and 
therefore is preferred to all other timber for building of ships. The acorns were 
the food of the ancient Bi it ai ns, and particularly of the Druids, but they are little 
used at present, except to fatten hogs and deer. Rouccl says they may be used 
as coffee, and that they have the property of strengthening the nerves. Thebark, 
which is very astringent, is extensively used in tanning leather. It is also used 
in medicine ; and an infusion of it, with a small quantity of coppeias, is some- 
times used to dye woollen of a pm plish-blue ; the colour, though not bright, is 
durable. The galls, (or oak-apples, as they are sometimes called,) which are 
found upon the leaves of this tree, appear to be the most powerful of the vegeta- 
ble astringents, striking a deep black when mixed with a solution of feirum vi- 
triolatum, and therefore preferred to every other substance for the purpose of 
making ink. Reduced to a fine powder, and made into an ointment, they have 
been found of gieat service in haemorthoidal affections. Oak saw-dust is the 
principal indigenous vegetable used in dying fustian; all thevaiieties of drabs 
and different shades of blown, aie mule with oak saw-dust, variously managed 
and compounded. — A great numuerof insects depend more or less for subsist- 
anceontheOak tree; and the different species of Mosses, Lichens, and Fungi, 
that are par asilical upon it, are too numerous to particularize here. They may 
be seen in'Mr. Loudon’s Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum. 
The Oak, as Dr. Johnston observes, in his excellent Flora of Berwick-upon- 
Tweed, “ has ever been a favourite with Britains. Under its shade, the Druids, 
the priests of his ancestors, held their solemn festivals : in after centuries its timber 
supported and beautified the venerable cathedrals raised for a purer worship ; the 
palaces of his princes rose on pilasters of Oak, and it was the board of their festi- 
vities ; but, above all, it is dear to him as the material of the ‘ wooden walls’ of his 
native isle.” — The most complete account of this and the other British species 
( Q . sessilliflora ) , that has ever been written, is given in Mr. Loudon’s Arbore- 
tum et Fruticetum Britannicum. In that most excellent work, Mr. Loudon has 
brought together, and properly arranged, every thing that is at present known re- 
specting the Geography, History, Biography, Properties, Uses, Propagation, Culture, 
Statistics, bi c. &c. of the Oak ; with descriptions, and portraits, of all the most re- 
markable specimens of this “ king of the forest,” in every part of the country. 
The matter relative to the British Oaks alone, occupies 112 closely printed pages, 
in small type, and is illustrated by 130 beautifully executed wood engravings, and 
many very interesting and appropriate extracts from the poets. Much valuable 
information on this subject may also be obtained from Dr. Withering’s Botanical 
Arrangements, 7th edition; and Miss Kent’s Sylvan Sketches. 
