OAKS. 
165 
Of the oaks seen at this place, many were remarkable for their 
beauty, few for their size. The largest seen did not exceed the 
height of fifty feet. They seemed to be used chiefly as pollards; 
considerable quantities of their branches being accumulated for fire- 
wood, or perhaps for charring. 
One of the largest and most interesting of these trees, which 
I have called Quercus densifolia , was an evergreen, closely allied to 
the Quercus glabra of Thunberg, and resembled a laurel in the 
shining green of its foliage. It bore its branches and leaves in a 
thick head, crowning a naked and straight stem. Its fruit grew in 
long upright spikes, terminating the branches. Another species, 
Quercus Chinensis *, growing to the height of fifty feet, bore them in 
long pendulous spikes. Of this I have fortunately preserved a good 
specimen, through Sir George Staunton, and have given the accom- 
panying figure. The leaves of some were distinguished by red 
prominent veins on the under surface; others by their size, and some 
by the hair, like processes, which fringed their margin. Five distinct 
species were found in a short walk. 
Growing with the oaks, were some dwarf chesnuts; the fruit of 
which was exposed for sale at the village, and were not larger than 
the common bon-nut of this country. 
From the shops of the same place I received several species of 
fern, which are used as vegetables, infused as tea and administered 
as medicine. The most general was the Pteris piloselloides. Ginger 
was also much grown among the hills, and sold in the shops in a 
green state as a common vegetable. 
The country in the vicinity of Ta-tung owed its chief interest to 
its plants. The people continued to display the same curiosity in 
observing the strangers as elsewhere, but exhibited few traits of 
character worth recording. The only interesting circumstance that 
* 
See Appendix. 
