74 
QUERCUS 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate ?j. (a) Shoot with staminate catkins. ( b ) Leaf (lower surface). (c) Leaf 
(upper surface). ( d ) Portions of leaves, lower surface (enlarged). ( e ) Portion of staminate catkins (enlarged). 
(f) Pistillate catkin (enlarged), (g) Portion of branch, laminae cut away, with ripe fruit, (h) Ripe acorn. 
Cambridgeshire (C. E. M.). Plate 74. (a) Shoot with staminate catkins. Cambridge Botanic Garden (R. I. L.). 
( b ) Shoot in autumn, (c) Fruit. Somerset (C. E. L.). 
Exsiccata : — Reichenbach, 1514, as Q. anrea. 
Specimens issued by Todaro (1269, as Q. sessiliflora var. macrocarpa , and 1270, as Q. sessiliflora var. montana) are 
Q. pubescens (= Q. lanuginosa Thuiller FI. Env. Paris dd. 2, 502 (1799)), which is not a British plant, and which 
is not indigenous further north than Paris. 
The only specimen of Q. sessiliflora in the herbarium of Linnaeus is named Q. esculus, a binominal which appears in the 
Spec. Plant. 996 (1753). The name refers to some obscure plant, and has dropped out of the cited synonymy of modern 
systematists. A specimen in the herbarium of the Hort. Cliff, (in Herb. Mus. Brit.) of Q. pubescens (= Q. lanuginosa 
Thuiller) is also named Q. esculus. Plants labelled Q. esculus in the Botanic Gardens at Cambridge and at Glasnevin, 
Dublin, are Q. pubescens x sessiliflora ; and the same hybrid occurs occasionally as a planted tree in grounds, as in Hert- 
fordshire. 
Tree, attaining a height of nearly 35 m., and living to a very great age. Root less deep than in 
Q. robur. Trunk usually longer than in Q. robur. Young branches glabrous. Petioles usually longer 
than in Q. robur. Laminae very variable in shape, more or less elliptical, cuneate or broad at the 
base but with no completely reflexed auricles as in Q. robur , margin sinuate, sinuses usually shallower 
and lobes usually more obtuse than in Q. robur , obtuse, the larger veins usually ending in the lobes, 
with persistent multiple or bifid hairs underneath which may be either conspicuous or minute. Catkins 
appearing with the leaves ; early May. Pistillate catkins usually sessile. Stigmas 3 — 4, sessile. 
Ovaries hairy. Nuts or acorns elliptical, oval, or subcuneate ; October. 
The branched hairs which distinguish this species from Q. robur are not developed on seedlings until about their third 
year. 
This species ( Q . sessiliflora) is not included in Q. robur L. Sp. PI. 996 (1753); and those authors who cite it as 
“ Q. robur L. Sp. PI. partim ” do so erroneously. It is introduced by Linnaeus into the second edition of FI. Suec. as 
Q. robur var. ft. Many authors, such as Miller and Willdenow, have erroneously used the name Q. robur L. for this species ; 
but there is no justification for this procedure. Some recent authors have adopted the name Q. sessilis Ehrhart ; but 
this is a mere name in a list and without a word of description : it cannot therefore be made the starting-point of a 
species. Salisbury’s name, Q. sessiliflora , is the first valid binominal. 
The numerous leaf-forms named by Lasch (in Bot. Zeit. xv, 409 — 420 (1857) are, in our opinion, either fluctuating 
variations and too unimportant to receive formal names, or hybrid-forms of Q. robur and Q. sessiliflora. The species is undoubtedly 
very variable ; and we give below some of the more remarkable of the aberrant forms which we have observed in the British 
Isles. 
(a) Q. sessiliflora var. genuina Willkomm in Willkomm et Lange Prodr. FI. Hispan. i, 238 (1861). 
leones: — Martyn FI. Rust. t. 11, as Q. robur var. sessilis. 
Laminae with a very large number of minute hairs scattered all over the under surface, hairs 
usually bifid. Pistillate catkins sessile or nearly so. 
(/ 3 ) var. genuina subvar. sphaerocarpa nobis ; Q. sessiliflora forma castanoides v. Vukotinovic in Oest. Bot. 
Zeit. xxix, 187 (1879). 
Acorns spherical or subspherical. 
Hampshire (A. G. Tansley). 
Germany, Austria (Croatia). 
(b) Q. sessiliflora var. pubescens Loudon Arboret. iii, 1736 (1838); Willkomm in Willkomm et Lange 
Prodr. FI. Hisp. i, 239 (1861); Q. sessiliflora var. /3 Smith FI. Brit, iii, 1027 (1804); Q. pubescens Gray Nat. Arr. 
ii, 247 (1821) non Willdenow. 
leones : — Martyn FI. Rust. t. 12, as Q. robur var. sessilis. 
Laminae with minute scattered bifid and multiple hairs on the under surface and also with 
conspicuous tufts of multiple hairs especially in the axils of the midrib and larger veins. Pistillate 
catkins sessile, subsessile, or peduncled. 
This variety seems to be commoner on wet than on dry soils, and is much commoner in western than in eastern Great 
Britain and Ireland. It may be regarded as transitional to Q. pubescens Willdenow which, however, has its young branches as 
well as its leaves pubescent. 
(/ 3 ) var. pubescens forma longipeduncula nobis. 
leones : — Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 75. ( a ) Shoot with pistillate catkins, (b) Portion of leaf, lower surface 
(enlarged). ( c ) Pistillate catkin, (d) Portion of pistillate catkin (enlarged). Cornwall (C. E. M.). 
