i I TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



spreading, 4-10 indies long, slender, flowers pale yellowish- 

 green or cream-colored; calyx pubescent, mostly 6-parted; 

 stamens 15-20; odor offensive when the anthers are discharg- 

 ing their pollen: fertile flowers near the base of the upper 

 sterile catkins or in separate axils, 1-3 in a prickly involucre; 

 calyx 6-toothed; ovary ovate, styles as many as the cells <>l 

 the ovary, exserted. 



Fruit. Burs round, thick, prickly, 2-4 inches in diameter, 

 opening by 4 valves; nuts 1-5, dark brown, covered with 

 whitish dowm at apex, flat on one side when there are several 

 in a cluster, ovate when only one, sweet and edible. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 prefers fertile, well-drained, gravelly or rocky soil ; rather 

 difficult to transplant; usually obtainable in nurseries. Its 

 vigorous and rapid growth, massive, broad-spreading head 

 and attractive flowers make it a valuable tree for land- 

 scape gardening, but in public places the prickly burs and 

 edible fruit are a serious disadvantage. Propagated from 

 the seed. 



Plate XXXVI. Castanea sativa, var. Americana. 



1. Winter buds. 



2. Flowering branch. 



3. Sterile flower. 



4. Fertile flower. 



5. Fruit. 

 (>. Nut. 



QUERCUS. 



Inflorescence appearing with the leaves in spring ; sterile 

 catkins from terminal or lateral buds on shoots of the pre- 

 ceding year, bracted, usually several in a cluster, unbranched, 

 long, cylindrical, pendulous ; bracts of sterile flowers minute, 

 soon falling ; calyx parted or lobed ; stamens 3-12, undivided : 

 fertile flowers terminal or axillary upon the new shoots, single 

 or few-clustered, bracted, erect ; involucre scaly, becoming the 

 cupule or cup around the lower part of the acorn; ovary 

 3-celled ; stigma 3-lobed. 



