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NOTE  ON  THE  BARTRAM  OAK. 
NOTE  ON  THE  BARTRAM  OAK  (QUERCUS  HETEROPHYLLA.) 
By  S.  B.  Bucklef. 
The  Bartram  Oak  (Quercus  heterophylla,  Mx.)  has  long  been 
regarded  by  most  American  Botanists  as  a  hybrid.  Accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Procter,  Editor  of  the  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  I 
lately  went  to  Mount  Holly,  near  Burlington,  in  New  Jersey, 
to  see  an  oak  with  leaves  of  varied  forms,  many  of  which  corres- 
pond in  shape  with  the  figure  of  the  Bartram  Oak  in  Michaux's 
Sylva.  It  is  less  than  one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  depot  at 
Mount  Holly,*  in  a  thicket  near  several  willow  oaks  (Quercus 
phellos),  of  which  it  is  plainly  one.  It  has  all  the  characteristics 
of  body,  limbs  and  acorns,  peculiar  to  the  willow  oak.  Many  of 
its  leaves  have  the  ordinary  form  of  Quercus  phellos.  Michaux, 
in  his  description  of  the  Q.  heterophylla,  says  that  several 
young  plants  of  the  Bartram  Oak  have  been  placed  in  the  pub- 
lic gardens  to  insure  the  preservation  of  the  species.  One  of 
these,  which  was  grown  from  an  acorn  of  the  original  Bartram 
Oak,  was  planted  in  the  Bartram  Garden.  Col.  Carr,  who  suc- 
ceeded Bartram  in  the  ownership  and  possession  of  the  garden, 
showed  this  tree  to  Mr.  Meehan  of  Germantown,  who  had  charge 
of  the  Garden  during  two  years.  With  Mr.  Meehan,  a  few  days 
since,  I  visited  this  tree.  It  also  is  a  Quercus  phellos.  It  has 
very  few  lobed  leaves ;  indeed  there  is  scarcely  one  in  fifty  of 
them  lobed. 
In  Mr.  Durand's  herbarium  are  specimens  of  Quercus  phel- 
los with  lobed  leaves  like  the  Bartram  Oak,  which  he  received 
from  Columbia  County  in  this  State,  where  such  forms  of  the 
willow  oak  are  said  to  be  quite  common  along  the  banks  of  the 
Susquehanna.  The  Bartram  Oak  is  not  a  hybrid,  but  a  mere 
form  of  Quercus  phellos,  which,  like  most  American  oaks,  varies 
greatly  in  the  shape  of  its  leaves. 
Since  writing  the  above  I  have  seen  a  specimen  from  the 
original  Bartram  Oak,  which  has  both  lobed  and  entire  leaves, 
showing  beyond  question  that  it  is  a  form  of  Q.  phellos.  This 
specimen  is  now  in  the  general  herbarium  of  the  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences  at  Philadelphia. — Free.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci.  Phila, 
After  the  preceding  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  printer. 
*  On  the  farm  of  Mr.  William  Rossell. 
