95 



with a fleshy conncctivum and vertical cells opening- transversely. Ovarium superior; 

 stigma sessile, 3-4 toothed. Fruit drupaceous, with 1 seed and the remains of another. 

 Seed suspended; embryo green, with (oliateous cotyledons, lying- in the midst of copious 

 fleshy albumen. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple, with deciduous stipula?. 



Affinities. An obscure order, of the limits of which nothing has been 

 well made out. Judging- from the genera Stilago and Antidesma, it is very 

 near Cupulifera*, from which it differs chiefly in its superior ovarium and 

 copious fleshy albumen. 



Geography. Natives of the East Indies. 



Properties. 



Examples. Stilago, Antidesma. 



LXXXII. CUPULIFERiE. The Oak Tribe. 



Cupulifehje, Rich. Anal, du Fr. (1808); IAndl. Synops. 239. (1829); Blume Flora Java. 

 (1829).— CoRYLACEiE, Mirb. Elem. 906. (1815.)— Q.uehcinejs. Juss. in diet. Sc. Nat. vol. 2, 

 Suppl. 12. (1816.) 



Diagnosis. Apetalous dicotyledons, with definite pendulous ovules, 2 or 

 more in each cell, amentaceous flowers, single inferior ovaria enclosed in a 

 cupule, and alternate stipulate leaves with veins proceeding straight from the 

 midrib to the margin. 



Anomalies. 



Essential Character. Flowers diclinous; stamniferous amentaceous, pistilliferous 

 aggregate or amentaceous. Stamens 5 to 20, inserted into the base of the scales or of a mem- 

 branous calyx, generally distinct. Pistils: Ovaries crowned by the r diments of a superior 

 calyx, seated within a coriaceous involucrum (cupule) of various figure, and with several cells 

 and several ovules, the greater part of which are abortive ; ovules twin or solitary, pendulous; 

 stigmata several, sub-sessile, distinct. Fruit a bony or coriaceous 1-celled nut, more or less 

 enclosed in the involucrum. Seeds solitary, 2 or 3, pendulous ; embryo large, with plano-con- 

 vex fleshy cotyledons, and a minute superior radicle.— Trees or shrubs. Leaves with stipulas, 

 alternate, simple, with veins proceeding- straight from the midrib to the margin. 



Affinities. These are known among European trees by their amenta- 

 ceous flowers and peculiarly veined leaves ; from all other plants they are dis- 

 tinguished by their apetalous superior rudimentary calyx, fruit enclosed in a 

 peculiar husk or cup, and nuts containing but 1 cell and 1 or 2 seeds, in conse- 

 quence of the abortion of the remainder. They are nearly akin to Salicineae 

 and Betulinese, from which the presence of a calyx, and, in the former case, the 

 veining of their leaves, distinguish them. To Urticese they are nearly allied, 

 but differ in their many-celled ovarium, pendulous ovula, and superior calyx. 



Geography. Inhabitants of the forests of all the temperate parts of the 

 continent both of the Old and New World ; extremely common in Europe, 

 Asia, and North America ; more rare in Barbary and Chile, and the southern 

 parts of South America ; and unknown at the Cape. The species which are 

 found within the tropics of either hemisphere are chiefly Oaks, which abound 

 in the high lands, but are unknown in the valleys of equatorial regions. 



Properties. An order which comprehends the Oak, the Hazel Nut, the 

 Beech, and the Spanish Chestnut, can scarcely require much to be said to a 

 European reader of its properties, which are of too common a use to be un- 

 known even to the most ignorant. Gallic acid exists abundantly in the Oak. 

 The leaves of Quercus falcata are employed, on account of their astringency, 

 externally in cases of gangrene; and the same astringent principle, which 



