Class XXI. Order VIII. 



and not liable to warp and crack. It is considerably used in 

 cabinet work, particularly for bedsteads. 



266. CORYLUS. 



CORYLUS AMERICANA. Walt. Common HazeL 



Calyx of the fruit rounded and bell shaped, 

 larger than the nut, its border dilated, tooth- ser- 

 rate ; leaves roundish, heart- shaped, acuminate. 

 Willd. 



The common hazel nut is a slender shrub, usually growing 

 in bunches about the borders of fields. The barren flowers 

 grow in long, pendulous aments ; the fertile ones in a sort of 

 buds, on a different part of the branch. The nuts, which are 

 nearly equal in quality to the European, grow in large bunches, 

 each one invested with a large, hairy calyx extending consider- 

 ably beyond the nut. April. 



267. OSTRYA. 



OSTRYA VIROINICA. Hop Hornbeam. Iron wood. 



Cones oblong-ovate ; leaves oblong-ovate, acu- 

 minate ; buds acute. 



This tree is generally of small size, and remarkable for the 

 fine division of the outer bark of its trunk. The leaves are al- 

 ternate, ovate, a little hearted at base, finely and acutely serrate, 

 acuminate. Barren flowers in pendulous aments. Fertile ones 

 enlarging into a sort of oblong cone, in its structure resembling 

 the common hop. This fruit is composed of vesicles, or in* 

 flated capsules, lying over each other, and containing each a 

 seed at its base. 



The wood is hard, close grained, and heavy. In some parts 

 of the country it has acquired the name of Lever wood, from 

 the use to which it is applied. 



