FAGACEAE. 95 



aments 7-15 cm. long; bracts obtuse; stamens usually 2 (1-3); 

 pistillate aments 4-6 mm. long; cones broadly oblong, 12-20 mm. 

 long; seeds acutely margined. 



Common along mountain streams and occasionally extending 

 down into the valleys. January. 



Family 21. FAGACEAE. Beech Family. 



Trees or shrubs with evergreen or deciduous alternate 

 petioled leaves and small monoecious flowers, the stami- 

 nate in pendulous erect or spreading aments, the pistil- 

 late solitary or several together, subtended by an invo- 

 lucre of more or less united bracts, which becomes a bur 

 or cup. Petals none. Staminate flowers with a 4-7- 

 lobed perianth and 4-20 stamens; filaments slender, dis- 

 tinct; anther sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Pistillate 

 flowers with a 4-8-lobed urn-shaped or oblong perianth, 

 adnate to the 3-7-celled ovary r ovules 1-2 in each cell, 

 only 1 in each ovary maturing, pendulous, anatropous; 

 styles as many as cells to the ovary, linear. Fruit a 

 1 -seeded nut, with coriaceous or bony exocarp. Endo- 

 sperm none; cotyledons large, fleshy. 



Involucre 1-3-flowered, becoming a spiny bur in 



fruit. 1. Castanopsis. 



Involucre 1-flowered; fruit an acorn. 2. Quercus. 



1. CASTANOPSIS Spach. Chinquapin. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs with rather soft close- 

 grained wood. Staminate aments long, slender and 

 erect, the flowers arranged in clusters of 3; stamens 

 10-12. Pistillate flowers 1-3 in an involucre, in short 

 aments or at the base of the staminate aments; calyx 

 6-cleft; ovary 3-celled with 2 ovules in each cell; styles 3. 

 Fruit maturing the second autumn, the spiny bur en- 

 closing 1-3 nuts. Nuts ovoid or globose, more or less 

 angled, usually 1-seeded. 



1. C. sempervirens (Kell.) Dudley. A spreading shrub, 1-2.5 m. 

 high, with smooth brown bark; leaves oblong, usually obtuse at 

 apex and acute at base, 4-8 cm. long, light yellow or grayish green 

 above, golden or pale rusty tomentose beneath. 



A common shrub in the coniferous forests of the Sierra Nevada. 



