CUPULIFER^ 127 



flowers solitary or in fascicles ; fruit a nut seated in a cup 

 (cupule), formed by the coalescence of a whorl of har- 

 dened often woody bracts. A moderately large order, 

 belonging chiefly to the Northern Temperate Zone; no 

 alpine species. 



I. Fagus, L. 



Fruit usually in pairs, enclosed in the hardened or 

 coriaceous scaly involucre (beech-mast). 

 F. sylvatica^ L., Beech ; common. 



2. QUERCUS, L. 



Fruit an acorn, seated in a smooth or spiny cup. 



Our two English Oaks, Q. pedunculata, Ehrh., with 

 sessile leaves, and acorns on long stalks ; and sessilifloray 

 Salisb., with longish leaf-stalk, and acorns nearly sessile ; 

 common. Also Q. pubescens^ Willd. {lanuginosa^ Thuill.), 

 a much smaller tree, the under surface of the leaves 

 pubescent ; Southern and Eastern Switzerland, Pyrenees. 

 Q, Cerris^ L. ; stigmas yellow, scales of cup long, linear- 

 subulate, twisted, spreading; Ticino, Jura, rare. 



3. Castanea, L. 



Fruit enclosed in a spiny capsule-like involucre. 

 C. vulgaris^ Lam. {sativa, Mill., vesca, Gaertn.), Spanish 

 Chestnut, Sweet Chestnut ; South of the Alps. 



4. CORYLUS, L. 

 Fruit a woody i -seeded nut, enclosed in the greatly 

 enlarged coriaceous involucre. 



C. Avellana, L., Hazel; very common. 



