302 OAK FAMILY. 



1. Sterile floiaers with a distinct 4 - 1-lobed calyx and 3-20 slender stamens : fertile 



Jlowers 1-4 in a cup or bur-like involucre. 

 * Sterile flowers dutd rt<l in s/rW< / i-n/kiii.-t -. tin // bracts ittfonsjiiciinus or deciduous. 



1. QUERCUS. Stamens 3 - 12. Fertile flower only one in the bud-like involucre, 



which becomes a scaly cup. Stigma :i-lohed. Nut (acorn) terete, \\ithafirin 

 shell, from \vliich tin- tliick cuts !. -ilons do not emerge in germination. (Les- 

 sons, p. 122, fig. 388; p. 20, li-.' :;i;, ',!.) 



2. CAS I AM:. \. Stamens 8-20. Fertile (lowers few (commonly 3) in each in- 



volucre, one or more ripenini:: stiirmas mostly n or 7, bristle-diapcd. Nuts 

 coriaceon.-, ovoid, when more than one flattened on one or both >ides, en- 

 closed in the hard and thick very pricklv bur-like at length 4-valved invo- 

 lucre! Cotyledons somewhat folded together and cohering, remaining under 

 ground in germination. 



* * Sterile Jlowers in small heads on drooping peduncles. 



3. FAGUS. Calyx of sterile flowers l.ell-Miaped, 5-7-cleft, containing; 8-16 long 



stamens. Fertile (lowers 2 together on the summit of a sealy-bracted pe- 

 duncle; the innermost scales uniting form the 4-lobed involucre: ovary 

 3-Celled when young, Crowned by I! a\vl-shaped calyx-teeth and a :J-elcft or 

 3 thread-like Styles: in fruit a pair of sharply 3-sided nuts in the 4-dei't -i.fi- 

 prickly rigid involucre. Cotyledons thick, ,-omcwhat crumpled together, but 

 rising and expanding in germination. (Lessons, p. 19, fig. 31-33.) 



2. Sterile flowers consisting of a few short stamens partly adhering to the bract, 

 and destitute of any proper c/ili/.r ; lite anthers l-eelled: ftrtilr. flmccrs in 

 pairs under cm-It brnct of a head, spike, or .tlmrt catkin, each with one in- tn- 

 bractlets, forming afoliaceous or sue-like involucre to the nut- Sterile catkins 

 rather dense. 



4. CORYLUS. Scales of the sterile catkin consisting of a bract to the inside of 



which 2 bractlets and several stamens adhere. Fertile flowers in a little 

 head, like a scaly bi'd: sti<rma< 2, long and red. Nut rather large, bony, 

 wholly or partly enclosed in a leaf-like or tubular and cut-lobe<> >: toothed 

 involucre. 



6. OSTIJVA. Scales of the sterile catkin simple. Fertile flower? ',n a sort of 

 slender catkin, its bract* deciduuii>, each ilowcr an ovary tipp ! with 2 long 

 slender stigmas and enclosed in a tubular bracflet, which beei n.es a 'nladdery 

 L'l-eeiii-li-white oblong bag, in the bottom of which is the liitle nut: the.-c 

 together form a sort of hop-like fruit. 



6. CARPINl'S. Sterile catkin as in()>trya. Fertile flowers in a sort of slender 

 loose catkin; each with a pair of separate 3-Iobed bractlets, which become 

 leaf-like, one each side of the small nerved nut. 



1. QUERCUS, OAK. (The classical Latin name.) Fl-Avcrs in spring; 

 acorn* ripe in autumn. All but one of the following species are natives 

 of the country. 



1. Annual-fruited OuLt, the acorns maturin;/ tin- autumn of the first near, there- 

 fore on the wood of the season, uswu'/y in the axil of tin' /<ttr<s,out of 

 u-liifli l/ni/ iiri' i>/Ji-ii raised on a p<tlnn<-l< : kernel commonly sizeet-teiste'd 

 no lirial/is on llii' loins or teeth of tin liui'is. 

 * WHITE OAKS, trith lyrutili/ or sinnatt/i/ pinnatifid and dici'iluoim Ixtres, 



-i /,'/('/""" //'"', more or Ass p/nntnl eastward. 



Q. R6bur, Ki'itoiT..\\ or K\<;I.ISH OAK. Belongs to the same *cction 

 with our White Oak ; but. leaves smaller, not glaucous bencalli, siuuate-lobed, 

 but hanllv pinnatifid ; acorn oblon", over !' linig, one or a few in a cluster 

 which is nearly sessile in the axils in var. SKSSI LiFLdKA, raised on a slender 

 peduncle in var. IT;IM WCl I.ATA. 



^_ H_ Natii'p. species : Icarcs pale, or whitish beneath. 



Q. cllba, WIIITK OAK. Rich soil: lar^c tree with whitish bark; leave* 

 soon smooth, bright , ^recn above, whiti>h beneath, with 3-9 oblong or linear 

 obtuse and nioMlv entire obli:|iie lobe*; the shallow rou^h cup \ cry mucll 

 horter than the ovoid-oblong (about 1' lonu) acorn : seed edible. 



Q. obtusiloba, POST OAK, KOI i. ii or Box WIIITK Oak. Small tree in 

 barren soil, commonest !S., with very durable wood; thickish leaves grayish 





