748 The Jonnial of Forestry. 



tmd female blossoms on dilleient trees, mid are tliercl'urf Lcniied 

 dioxioKs/i/ didinous. 



The flowers of the birch aud alder are in catkins, each of which is 

 wholly made up of flowers of one sex. The male catkins are generally 

 the longer, and fall oft' after shedding their pollen, whilst the female 

 ones persist till the ripening of the fruit, forming in the alder a woody 

 cone-like body. The floral envelopes are reduced to one or two scales 

 to each flower. 



In the plane the envelopes are similarly reduced, and the flowers 

 form globular heads, two or three of which hang on a pendulous 

 branch. Those on one branch are all of one sex, and the male branches 

 drop oft" like the catkins of birch and alder. 



The flowers of the box occur, male and female together, at the 

 junction of the leaves with the stem — the axil^ as it is termed. They 

 have from four to twelve green sepals. 



In the walnut the male flowers are in catkins hanging from the 

 axil. The green perianth has generally six leaves, and the numerous 

 large anthers have hardly any filament. The female flowers are far 

 fewer, and are grouped in erect clusters of five or six, in axils. They 

 have an outer circle of six sepal-like bracts, commonly called an 

 involucre or cujmle, and four larger inner floj'al leaves, called the 

 corolla, two of which are prominently larger. 



In the oak the male flowers occur at intervals along a pendulous 

 catkin, and liave generally six minute sepals. The female flowers are 

 solitary on an erect stalk, and have a three-styled ovary, a 3 — 8 lobed 

 calyx and an involucre of numerous overlapping bracts, which after- 

 wards forms the " cup " of the acorn, and is therefore called the cupulc. 

 There are two varieties of our British oak (Qucrmsrdbur) ; one having 

 stalked leaves, but very short stalks to the acorn-bearing (female) 

 flowers, called therefore aessUiJiora ; the other having no leaf stalks 

 and long flower-stalks, called i)cdunculata. On these I would quote 

 the following from Mr. Laslett's " Timber and Timber Trees " : — 



" It is the prevailing opinion that the wood of Q. rohiir iKduncidaia 

 is the best in quality. I have not been able to discover any important 

 difterence between the two. Few surveyors are able to speak positively 

 as to the identity of either. The timber of the scsdlijiura .is a little less 

 dense and compact in texture. It is fortunate that the 2Jed a nctdat a is 

 to be found in greater abundance ; and it is greatly to be desired that, 

 in any future planting, care should be taken to perpetuate it, although, 

 as a commercial speculation, the sessilijfora would probably yield the 

 best return, as it generally attains a greater length of clear stem. 

 Very fine specimens of the sessUiflora are to be met with in abundance 

 in the Forest of Dean, where, upon a rocky subsoil, the oak trets 

 generally attain noble dimensions, with, however, thib drawback — they 



