Book Reviews

Abstract

THIS little book fills a distinct gap, as it is the first time that a primer intended specially for students of forestry has been issued in England. Prof. Marshall Ward has been for many years the Lecturer on Botany at the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill, and therefore understands thoroughly what is required. He has followed for his plan the taking of a single tree—the oak—and dealing with it exhaustively. After a general introduction, he deals first with the acorn and its germination, describing fully the embryo and its epidermis, the vascular bundles of the former and its cells, and the character of their contents. He tells us that two years elapse before the supply of food stored up in the two thick cotyledons is exhausted, and it is not until the tree is from sixty to a hundred years old that good seeds are obtained from it. Then he describes the seedling and young plant—first the root and its tissues, and then the stem, buds, and leaves, and their microscopic structure. Then he turns to the full-grown tree, and describes its root-system, shoot-system, inflorescence, flowers, fruit, and seed. Next he deals with the timber of the oak, its structure, and technological peculiarities. Then he treats of the cultivation of the tree, and the injuries and diseases to which it is liable from the attacks of insects and fungi. He concludes with a short chapter on the relationships of the oaks and their distribution in space and time. The genus is characterized by the cupule, in which the acorn is inclosed, which represents a one-flowered involucre. There are three cells in the ovary, and two ovules in each; but nearly always two of the cells and five of the ovules are obliterated before the seed is perfected. About 300 species of the genus Quercus are known. It is spread universally through the north temperate zone. Prof. M. Ward is mistaken in supposing there are no oaks in South America. Two species have long been known in the Northern Andes—Quercus tolimensis and Quercus Humboldtii—both of which are described and figured in Humboldt and Bonpland's “Plantes Equinoxiales.” There are nearly sixty species in India, and it is there that we get the genus connected with the other Cupuliferæ by passing through Castanopsis into Castanea. The oaks go back to the Cretaceous period, and a large number of fossil forms are known. Their delimitation into species is very difficult. In Britain we have only a single species, Quercus Robur, with two sub species Q. pedunculata and sessiliflora, well enough marked in their extreme forms, but passing into one another by gradual stages of transition, which constitute what has been called Quercus intermedia. The book is clear and well arranged, and will be found thoroughly adapted to fulfil its purpose, and is illustrated by a large number of excellent figures, some of which are original and some borrowed from German text-books. The Oak: a Popular Introduction to Forest Botany. By H. Marshall Ward “Modern Science Series,” edited by Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P. 171 pages, and Index, 2 Plates, and 51 Woodcuts. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, and Co., Ltd., 1892.)