DICOTYLEDONS. 51 



winged or angled nut ; bracts of the pistillate flowers some- 

 what fleshy, persistent, becoming woody in fruit. 



A. RUGOSA (Du Roi) Koch. Smooth Aldphi. A slinib or small 

 tree with smooth bark; leaves obovate, rounded or ohtuse at the 

 apex, acute at the base, sharply and minutely serrate, glabrous above, 

 pubescent beneath, petioled, stipules oval, deciduous ; staminate 

 aments 2-4 iu. long; fruiting ainents ovoid, short-peduncled, fruit 

 ovate, wingless. January-]\Iarch. Banks of streams and borders of 

 marshes. Leaves often persistent during the winter. 



25. fagace;e. beech family. 



Trees or shrubs ; leaves alternate, simple, pinnately veined ; 

 stipules deciduous ; flowers moncjecious, the staminate ca})i- 

 tate, or in drooping, spreading, or erect aments, calyx minute, 

 petals none, stamens 4-20 ; pistillate flowers solitary or in 

 small clusters, each flower subtended by more or less united 

 bracts which at maturity form a cup or burr, calyx minutely 

 toothed, petals none ; ovary 2-7 celled, but becoming 1-celled ; 

 fruit a 1-seeded nut. 



I. FAGUS. 



Trees with smooth, close, ash-gray l)ark, and slender, often 

 horizontal branches ; staminate flowers in long, slender- 

 l)eduncled, globose clusters, calyx bell-shaped, 4-6-cleft, 

 stamens 8-12, anthers 2-celled; pistillate flowers solitary 

 or more often in pairs, peduncled, surrounded by a 4-lobed 

 involucre and numerous linear bracts; ovaries 3-celh'd with 

 2 ovules in each cell, but usually only one ovule matures in 

 each ovary ; styles 3, filiform, fruit a thin-slicUed, 3-angled 

 nut. 



F. Amkhicana Sweet. Bi:i:cn. Large trees, leaves oblong-ovate, 

 acuminate at the: ai>ex, serrate, straight-veined, very white-silky when 

 young, nearly glabrous with age, involucre densely covered with short 

 recurved sjdnes ; nuts thin-shelled, edible. March-April. Common 

 on d:im]> s(»il every whcic. The wood is very hard, tough, and close- 

 grained, ;ind is especially valuaMe for the manufacture of small tools. 



