A few miserable living plants of this secies were sent home by Hartweg from California, and are now beginning to grow in the Society's Garden. It will probably be a hardy evergreen tree, concerning which Nuttall, who knew it in its native country, has the following remarks: - "This species, almost the only one which attains the magnitude of a tree in Upper California, is abundantly dispersed over the plain on which St. Barbara is situated, and, being evergreen, forms a conspicuous and predominant feature in the vegetation of this remote and singular part of the western world. It appears more sparingly around Monterey, ami scarcely extends on the north as far as the line of the Oregon territory. It attains the height of about 40 or 50 feet, with a diameter rarely exceeding 18 inches; the hark is nearly as rough as in the Red Oak. The wood, hard and brittle and reddish, is used only for purposes of fuel, or the coarse construction of log-cabins. As an ornamental tree for the south of Europe or the warmer States of the Union, we may recommend this species. It forms a roundish summit, and spreads but little till it attains a considerable age.

As a hedge it would forma very close shelter, and the leaves, evergreen and nearly as prickly as a Holly, would render it almost impervious to most animals. The leaves vary from roundish ovate to elliptic, and are of a thick rigid consistence; the serratures are quite sharp; the young shoots are covered moro or less with stellate hairs, and for some time tufts of this kind of down remain on the under side of the midrib of the leaves, which are, however, at length perfectly smooth, and of a dark-green above, often tinged with brownish yellow beneath. The staminiferous flowers are very abundant, and rather conspicuous; the racemes the length of three or four inches; the flowers with a conspicuous calyx and eight or ten stamens: the female or fruit-bearing flowers are usually in pairs in the axils, or juncture of the leaf with the stem, and sessile, or without stalks. The cup of the acorn is hemispherical, and furnished with loose brownish scales; the acorn, much longer than the cup, is ovate and pointed.

We do not recollect to have seen this tree properly associated with any other, except occasionally the Platanus raccmosa; their shade is hostile to almost every kind of undcr-growth. By Persoon this species is said to have been found on the eastern coast of North America, while Pursh attributes it to the north-west coast, about Nootka Sound. It does not, however, extend even to the territory of Oregon, as far as my observation goes." Nee says, " I have only seen branches collected at Monterey and Nootka. The leaves of the young plants are perfectly smooth when first developed, of a thin consistence. with numerous sharp dentures beneath; they are of a brownish yellow color, and appear smooth and shining." The long narrow acorns, almost conical, are a remarkable feature in the species. Journal of the Horticultural Society, vol. vi., p. 157.