ALNUS '73 



whitish linear lenticels up to 7 mm. long (hence the name, speck- 

 led alder); fruiting catkins ovoid, 12 mm. long, bent downwards; 

 nut orbicular. The flowers begin to appear in March. Low grounds, 

 Labrador to Saskatchewan, south to West Virginia, Indiana, and 

 Iowa; the common species northwards (Fig. 59). 



3. A^ s errulata (Ait. ) Willd. Smooth Alder . Brookside Alder . 

 (A. rugosa of authors, not Spreng. ). A shrub or small tree 2-7 m. 

 high, the bark smooth; fruiting catkins erect, ovoid, 12-18 mm. 

 long; nut ovate. The flowers begin to appear in February and March. 

 Stream-margins, Florida to Louisiana, north to Nova Scotia, Ohio, 

 Missouri, and Oklahoma; the common species southwards (Fig. 60). 



FAGUS L. (Fagaceae) 



Deciduous trees with smooth gray bark, even on large trunks. 

 Twigs slender, terete, zigzag; pith small, round, continuous. Buds 

 usually solitary, sessile or short-stalked, elongate-fusiform, di- 

 vergent, oblique over the leaf-scar, with 10 or more spirally 

 arranged scales. Leaf-scars small, alternate, half-round; bimdle- 

 traces 3 or multiplied; stipule-scars linear, nearly meeting around 

 the twig. Fruit a nut, usually 2 together in an urn-shaped prickly 

 involucre which splits into 4 valves. 



1. _F. grandifolia E hrh. Beech. A tree 15-36 m. high, with 

 a trunk diameter of 6-9 dm. ; bark smooth, close, light gray, often 

 with included woody nodules; twigs glabrous; buds red-brown. Rich 

 woods. Prince Edward Island to Ontario and Illinois, south to 

 Florida and Texas (Fig. 61). 



CASTANEA Mill. (Fagaceae) 



Deciduous shrubs or trees with fissured bark. Twigs moder- 

 ate, somewhat grooved; pith moderate, continuous, angled. Buds 

 solitary, ovoid, oblique, sessile, with 2 or 3 visible scales, the 

 terminal bud sometimes absent. Leaf-scars alternate, half-round; 

 bundle-traces 3 or much divided; stipule-scars unequal. Nuts 

 usually 3 together in a prickly involucre ("bur"). 



a. Twigs and buds glabrous, or with 



scattered hairs 1. C. dentata 



a. Twigs and buds grayish-tomentose 2. C. pumila 



1. C^ dentata (Marsh. ) Borkh. Chestnut. A tree 20-30 m. 

 high, 1-2 m., thick, with brown bark in longitudinal plates; twigs 

 chestnut-brown; "bur" 4-10 cm. in diameter, enclosing 1-5 nuts; 

 nuts 1-2.5 cm. wide, quite sweet. Dry mostly acid soil, Maine 

 and Minnesota, south to Georgia and Mississippi; now mostly de- 



