CORK OAK. 
31 
with difficulty, I cannot but consider its disappearance throughout the Uni- 
ted States within fifty years as nearly certain. It will then be found only 
in the form of a shrub, like the Quercus ilex, which formerly skirted the 
southern coast of France and Italy. 
PLATE XII. 
A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. 
\ 
[See NuttalPs Supplement, vol. I., pp, 16. 19.] 
» 
CORK OAK. 
GtuERCus SÜBER. Q. folUs ovato-ohlongîs, indivisis, serratis, subtus glaucis ^ 
cortice rimoso, fungoso. 
The Cork Oak grows naturally in the southern parts of France, in Spain, 
Portugal, Italy and the States of Barbary, which are comprised between the 
44th and 35th degrees of latitude. It rarely exceeds 40 feet in height and 
3 feet in diameter. Its leaves are evergreen, but the greater part of them 
fall and are renewed in the spring ; they are ovate, thick, slightly toothed, 
; of a light green on the upper surface and glaucous beneath. The acorns 
' are rather large, oval, and half enclosed in a conical cup, and being of a 
' sweetish taste, are eagerly devoured by swine. 
The wood is hard, compact and heavy, but less durable than that of the 
I Common European Oak, particularly when exposed to humidity. The 
I worth of the tree resides in its bark, which begins to be taken off at the 
■ age of 25 years. The first growth is of little value ; in ten years it is re- 
newed ; but the second product, though less cracked than the first, is not 
i thick enough for corks, and is used only by fishermen to buoy up their 
nets. It is not till the tree is 45 or 50 years old that the bark possesses all 
The qualities requisite for good corks, and from that period it is collected 
once in eight or ten years. Its thickness is owing to the extraordinary 
1 swelling of the cellular tissue. It is better fitted than any other substance 
Tor the use to which it is appropriated, as its elasticity exactly adapts it to 
the neck of the bottle, and its impenetrable structure refuses exit to the 
ifluid. 
