THE PRINCIPLES OP BOTANY. 815 
have only to mention the name of the oak to rouse up a 
thousand memories in the minds of all. 
The poet bursts into song in praise of his favourite tree; 
the landlord delights in its spread of trunk and branch upon 
his broad acres, and time was—and even now, in this age of 
iron, the feeling is not extinct—that our safety as a nation 
was considered to be mainly due to the “ wooden walls of 
old England,” when made of good honest English “ heart of 
oak.” 
But though in ship-building wood has been greatly super¬ 
seded by iron, the oak is still our most valuable timber-tree, 
whether for wear and hard work, or for substantial furniture 
or ornamental purposes. 
In fact, were we to dwell upon all the good things said 
and written upon this tree we might fill a volume; but we 
would rather refer to those more practical facts connected 
with the native forms of the tree and the uses of its wood, 
bark, &c. 
Any observer of the oaks to be met with in different parts 
of our country will conclude that, if we do not possess more 
than a single species, this has a tendency to run into well- 
marked varieties, the best marked of which may be described 
as follows: 
1. Quercus robur pedunculata. —Fruits (acorns) placed on 
pedicels —footstalks of from one to more than three inches in 
length. 
Leaves on very short petioles —leaf-stalks. 
2. Quercus robur sessiliflora. —Fruits on exceedingly short 
footstalks, nearly, if not quite, sessile. 
Leaves with a decided petiole, more than an inch long. 
3. Quercus robur intermedia. —Fruits on footstalks of 
from half an inch to an inch in length. 
Leaves with a petiole scarcely an inch in length. 
In all respects intermediate between the first two. 
Of these three varieties—for they are nothing more— 
of British oak, the first is the larger form, according to our 
own observations; but still we have seen mighty giants of 
them all; but, perhaps, the more aged examples, and, con¬ 
sequently, the most gnarled and conspicuous trees, may mostly 
be referred to the Q. robur peduncidata , which in some of 
our forests present remarkable trees ; thus, some giants in 
Alice Holt Forest and in the Forest of Dean, with scattered 
veterans standing here and there where forest once extended, 
show the age and size to which these remarkable trees may 
attain. So old, indeed, are they that they were marked trees 
centuries ago, and then of sufficient size to be known as land* 
55 
XLV. 
