92 
THE FLOEIST AND ROMOLOGIST. 
[ ArRiL, 
undulate-crenate near the apex, the base acute ; petiole an inch long, of a dark 
green above, light green beneath. The leaf-buds are large, sharp, and green. 
Quercus cuspidata.— A species of bushy habit, in which the younger 
branches are pubescent. There are two forms :— Q. cuspidata latifolia , of Siebold, 
which has thick, glabrous, greyish-brown branches, and leaves 4 in. long, If in. wide, 
closely resembling a Camellia-leaf, dark shining green above, downy and brownish 
beneath, the petiole small; and Q. cuspidata angustifolia , of Siebold, which is 
of pyramidal growth, the branches thin and brown, and the leaves from 2 in. to 
3 in. long, three-quarters of an inch wide, leathery, lanceolate, dark green above, 
light green beneath ; the buds are small, sharp, and green. This species is 
quite hardy in Holland, and is much used in Japan for making hedges. It yields 
a valuable wood, and the acorns are edible. 
Quercus angustifolia, of Siebold.—The habit of this variety is bushy, with 
thick, short, greenish-black branches ; the leaves are from 3 in. to 6 in. long, 
2 in. wide, oval, bluntly acuminate, and crenately toothed near the apex, leathery, 
of a dark shining green above, glaucous beneath; petiole short. The buds are 
brown. 
We have notes and sketches of some other Japanese Hardy Evergreen Oaks 
which we shall take an early opportunity to publish.—T. Moore. 
NOTES ON LEEKS. 
f N the patrimony of St. David, the Apostle of the Principality of Wales, 
Richard ap Davis saluted Owen ap Hughes, on his return from the City of 
Chester, with a bundle of leeks under his arm, with the challenge, “Where 
did you get that fine fruit?” The Leek has,indeed,become a by-word, and 
is reckoned an age behind the Onion, and a century at least behind the Garlic 
and Shallot. Chives are its companions in modern cookery, and as these are used 
to season green curled Kale, their character for respectability is not thereby 
enhanced ; but after all, the Leek has a peculiar flavour, milder by many degrees 
than even the Portugal Onion. 
The Leek has a peculiar build, and its strap-shaped leaves give it an air of 
gentility which the hollow pouches of the Onion never have. Indeed, a well- 
grown Leek might easily be mistaken for a flowering-plant of some note ; but it 
is at best but a stiff-necked biennial, without the bulb of the Onion, and having 
nothing that even a Welsh Bard could by any means construe into the character 
of “ fruit.” Yet the Leek of Wales is not without its merits, and like many other 
characters, it is not very well understood. When a dish of Leeks was put on an 
exhibition-table, an excellent botanist was not ashamed to ask what kind of 
vegetable it was, as it was quite new to him, and doubtless to many others also, 
who had never before seen their Leek in that light, for it had assumed the 
character of a small white Turnip, and was calculated to form a corner dish at 
table, after the fashion of Cauliflower. But how did my friend get it into this 
fashion, and wli^t made it leave its normal shape of a bundle of leaves and take 
