OBSERVATIONS ON THE OAKS. 
15 
vie with the finest woods known; it is of a clear pale 
yellow, inclining to olive, and feathered in the most 
beautiful manner; the polish is also equal to that of the 
finest mahogany. 
Bartram’s Oak, ( Quercus heterophylla , Mich. vol. 1. pi. 
16.) This curious tree, which, in 1837, had attained 
the height of 50 feet and a circumference of 3 feet 9 
inches, was inadvertently cut down, and with it the 
species, if such it was, appeared to be annihilated; but 
Thomas G. Lea, Esq., of Cincinnati, informs me “that 
several years ago he discovered an Oak between two 
and three miles north of that city, the leaves and fruit 
of which accord with Michaux’s figure. The leaves are 
sometimes larger than those represented, but with the 
same outline, irregularly and coarsely toothed, or sub- 
lobed, and on longish petioles, the margin is very rarely 
entire. The tree is about 25 feet high, and in a vigor- 
ous state of growth. Some scattering Oaks of other 
species are in its immediate neighbourhood. I think it 
is not a variety of Q. imbricaria , many trees of which I 
have examined, but never found them with leaves the 
least indented. The Q. phellos ” [to which it might be 
allied] “does not grow in the vicinity of Cincinnati, nor, 
that I know of, in any part of Ohio; this tree, therefore, 
cannot be a variety of that species.” Its nearest 
affinity appears to me to be to the Quercus ambigua of 
Michaux, jr., from which it is principally distinguished 
by the narrower and more simple divisions of its leaves. 
The Willow Oak appears to be very nearly allied to 
the Cluster-Leaved Oak of New Spain, ( Quercus confer - 
tifiora ,) figured and described by Humboldt and Bon- 
pland, but in that, though otherwise so very similar, the 
leaves are hairy beneath, while ours are perfectly 
smooth. 
