98 FAGACEAE. 



flowers solitary or several together, each subtended by a bristly involucre, 

 the sepals thick. Fruit a bur-like or cup-like involucre, enclosing or sub- 

 tending 1 or more nuts. 



Staminate aments globose, drooping on slender bracted peduncles : nuts S-angled or 



3-winged. 1. Fagus. 



Staminate aments elongate, slender. 



Staminate aments erect or ascending : nuts 1-3, included in a 



very spiny involucre. 2. C.\st.\nea. 



Staminate aments drooping : nut seated in an involucre of im- 

 bricate scales. 3. Queecus. 



1. FAGUS [Tourn/] L. Shrubs or trees, with close-grained wood. Leaf- 

 blades toothed. Staminate aments globular, pendulous: calyx 4-7-lobed: 

 stamens 8-16. Pistillate flowers 2-4 together: calyx 4-5-lobed. Staminodia 

 wanting. Ovary 3-celled: stigmas 3, filiform. Mature involucre with fleshy 

 spines, enclosing the nuts. Nuts 2-4, 3-angled or 3-winged. 



1. F. grandifolia Ehrh. Tree becoming 40 m. tall, the bark smooth, pale: 

 leaf -blades ovate or oblong-ovate, 5-14 cm. long: staminate aments 1-1. .5 cm. in 

 diameter, long-peduncled: ripe involucre ovoid, 1.5-2 cm. long, short-peduncled : 

 nut ovoid, narrowly winged, edible. — Common, in woods. — Spr. — Beech. 



2. CASTANEA [Tourn.] Hill. Shrubs or trees, with porous wood. Leaf- 

 blades toothed, the teeth slender-tipped. Staminate aments elongate, spreading : 

 calyx 6-lobed: stamens 10^-20, the filaments greatly elongate. Pistillate flowers 

 several : calyx 6-lobed. Staminodia present. Ovary imperfectly 6-celled : 

 stigmas 6, slender. Mature spiny involucre, including the nuts. Nuts 2 or 3, 

 or sometimes solitary. — Sum. 



Leaf-blades glabrous at maturity : nuts usually 3 in an involucre, flattened. 



1. C. dcntata. 

 Leaf-blades permanently pubescent beneath : nuts usually solitary, 



not flattened. 2. C. pumila. 



1. C. dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. Tree becoming 30 m. tall, the bark furrowed: 

 leaf -blades narrowly elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate, 10-30 cm. 

 long, acuminate at the apex, glabrous: neck of the hypanthium longer than the 

 body: ripe involucre 5-10 cm. in diameter: nuts mostly 2, 3 or 5 together, 2-2.5 

 em. long. — Common, in woods and on hillsides. — -Chestnut. 



2. C. pumila (L.) Mill. Shrub, or tree becoming 16 m. tall, the bark smooth: 

 leaf-blades oblong to obovate, 7-14 mm. long, acute or rounded at the apex, 

 white-tomentose beneath: neck of the hypanthium shorter than the body: ripe 

 involucre 3-4 cm. in diameter: nuts usually solitary, 1-1.5 cm. long. — S. Not 

 very common, on dry hills. Grows abundantly only in a few stations on the 

 schist hills. — Chinquapin. 



3. QUEECUS [Tourn.] L. Shrubs or trees, with coarse-grained wood. 

 Leaf -blades entire, toothed, or lobed. Staminate aments drooping: calyx 4-7- 

 lobed: stamens 6-12, the filaments relatively short. Pistillate flowers solitary 

 or several: ovary usually 3-celled: stigmas 3, dilated. Mature scaly involucre 

 saucer-like or cup-like, subtending the nut, or rarely enclosing it. — Spr. — Oak. 



Leaf-blades, or their lobes, bristle-tipped : styles elongate : nuts often pubescent 

 within. 

 Leaf-blades entire, not dilated at the apex. 1. Q. Phellos. 



Leaf-blades dilated at the apex or pinnately lobed or 

 pinnatifld. 

 Leaf-blades broadened upward, 3-lobed near the apex. 2. Q. marylandica. 



Leaf-blades pinnatifld or pinnately lobed. 



Leaf-blades green and glabrous on both sides. 

 Cup of the acorn saucer-shaped. 



