William Lucombe
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William Lucombe (xxxx-xxxx) is renown as a nurseryman for giving his name to the Lucombe Oak (Quercus x hispanica 'Lucombeana') he breed at his nursery in St. Thomas, Exeter which he founded in 1720 (now Pinces Gardens). The Lucombe Oak was first spotted in 1762 when Lucombe noticed that one of the saplings produced from a Turkey Oak acorn he had planted kept its leaves in winter. He later observed that these features occurred where both parents (Turkey Oak and Cork Oak) grew. True Lucombe Oaks are clones of the original tree, but Lucombe Oak is also often used to refer to any hybrid between Turkey Oaks and Cork Oaks.
One of the early Lucombe Oaks went to Kew, and Lucombe Oaks along with their decedents, which include back crosses with the naturalised Turkey Oak, are common in the landscape of East Devon, as well as parks and gardens.
Lucombe famously felled the original hybrid in 1785, keeping timber from it from which his coffin was to be made when he died. He stored the boards under his bed however, he lived for the age, an exceptionally long life dieing in xxxx at the age of 102 years, by which time the planks had decayed in the Devon damp. On his death timber from one of his early graft propagations was used to make his coffin.
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