CHAP. XI.] CUPULIFER^. 191 



retain till ripe. The male and female flowers 

 are on the same plant. 



THE GENUS QUERCUS. 



The fruit of all the species of Oak is an 

 acorn, which is only partly covered by a scaly 

 involucre called the cup. The shape of the 

 acorn, and the height to which it is covered by 

 the cup, differ in the different species ; but the 

 general character of both is always the same. 



The male catkins of the common British 

 Oak (Qiiercus Rohur jjeduncidatd) are long and 

 very few flowered ; the flowers being small and 

 very far apart. The flowers themselves have 

 six or eight stamens and as many feathery 

 bracts, which are united at the base. The 

 female flowers {a v^fig- 85) 

 are produced on a long 

 stalk at a distance from 

 each other, and each con- 

 sists of an ovary closely \j 

 covered with a toothed 

 calyx, as shown in the 

 highly-magnified flower at 

 c, and an involucre of several 

 bracts or scales, d; the fig. ss. 

 style is short and thick, and the stigma {e) is 

 three-lobed. As the fruit ripens, the style and 

 stigma wither away, and the seed remains 



