104 Fagaceae 



L-3 : pistillate amenta 4-6 mm. long; cones broadly oblong, 

 12—20 mm. Long; seeds acutely margined. 



Common along mountain streams and occasionally extending down Into 

 t he \ alleys. Janua ry . 



Family 18. FAGACEAE. Beech Family. 



Trees or shrubs with evergreen or deciduous alternate 

 petioled leaves and small monoecious Mowers, the stam- 

 inate 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; ovules 1-2 in each cell, 

 only 1 in each ovary maturing, pendulous, anatropous ; 

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

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

 sperm none ; cotyledons large, fleshy. 



Represented with us by a single genus. 1. Qverccs. 



1. QUERCUS L. Oak. 



Trees or shrubs with persistent or deciduous leaves 

 and -mall green or yellowish monoecious flowers, 

 the staminate numerous in slender mostly drooping 

 aments. the pistillate solitary in many-bracted involu- 

 cres. Staminate flowers subtended by caducous bracts, 

 <•> >i i-ist in<r of mostly a 6-lobed campanulate perianth and 

 5— J.2 st;imeiis with filiform filaments. Pistillate with an 

 urn-shaped or oblong .".-celled ovary : ovules 2 in each 

 cidl: style- usually •">. short. Fruit (acorn) consisting 

 of the imbricated and more or less united bracts of the 

 involucre (cup). Bubtending or nearly enclosing the 

 1 -seeded coriaceous nut. 



