254 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



In the group Cupuliferae are included three tribes : 

 Betulae, including the Birches and Alder, with male 

 flowers in pendulous spikes, four or fewer sepals, 

 two to four stamens, female flowers two to three 

 under each side of a catkin-like spike, without a 

 perianth, ovary two-celled, cells with one ovule, two 

 styles, and small compressed fruit covered by the 

 scales of the spikes ; Quercineae, including the Oaks 

 and Beech, with male flowers with four to ten-lobed 

 or -partite calyx, simple filaments, anther-cells conn- 

 ate, female flowers one to three in an involucre of 

 many bracteoles, which enlarges in fruit ; the ovary 

 is three- to seven-celled, and there are two ovules 

 in each cell, the fruit being enclosed in a cupular 

 involucre ; the Corylese, including Hazel and Horn- 

 beam, with male flowers in pendulous catkins, no 

 perianth, stamens included between two bracteoles, 

 anther-cells separate or connate, hairy at the tip, 

 female flowers in pairs, bracts enlarged in fruit, ovary 

 imperfectly two-celled, two ovules, pendulous from 

 one placenta only, fruit enclosed in the thick bracts. 



The group contains some four hundred species and 

 ten genera. The plants are natives of the northern 

 hemisphere, northward from North Africa, North 

 India, the Malay, and Darren Mountains of Australia, 

 New Zealand, and Chili. They show affinity with 

 the Juglandaceae or Walnut group. 



Most of the Cupuliferae are trees or shrubs. The 

 leaves are alternate, and possess stipules. 



The plants are monoecious, the male flowers in 



