"L.: " "Can you tell me why the Willow oak is called Quercus Phellos? My dictionary tells me 'phellos' signifies cork. In what way is this oak connected with cork?"

We hardly know why this name was given the oak, no work at hand furnishes a clue. Gron-ovius gave the name of Quercus IIex Marilandica to the tree; and the Cork oak of Europe - the tree that yields the cork of commerce - is a marked form of Quercus Ilex, known as Q. suber. On the revision of botany by Linnaeus and his contemporaries, it seems to have been the habit to retain as much as possible the names adopted with the literature of the past, and possibly this corkey name, "Phellos," may have been given because the species as indicated by Gronovius, was thought to be related to the Cork oak of Europe. If any friend can supply facts in the place of this guess, a note thereof would be acceptable.