370 



THE BIECH-TREE FAMILY. 



under the name of Quercus intermedia. This last occurs pretty commonly 

 about Haughton Yale, and elsewhere in that part of the country. 



The garden and other cultivated Corylacea; include the filbert and purple beech 

 before-mentioned, and several species of exotic oaks. Of these the commonest 

 and handsomest is the Turkey oak, or Quercus Cerris, the leaves of which are hard 

 and dry, and more deeply pinnatifid than those of the British oak, while the cup 

 of the acorn (which seldom ripens), instead of being simply rough with tubercles, 

 is mossy with long coarse bracts. Next in frequency is the evergreen oak, or 

 Quercus Ilex, which has small lanceolate dark-green leaves, that always have a 

 dusty and half-withered look, and acorns not larger than hazle-nuts. The red 

 American oak, or Quercus rubra, is a low-growing and rather scrubby tree, but 

 valued for the splendid colour assumed by its great leaves in autumn. Along 

 with one or two others, it is not uncommon in good shrubberies. 



CXVIT.— THE BIRCH-TREE FAMILY. Betuldcea. 



The Birch-tree Family is composed simply of the various species of 

 birch and alder, and is distinctly defined among the Amentaceaj, by 

 having the ovary of the female flowers free within the perianth, and 



Fig. 190. 

 Alder. 



provided with two cells, each of wliich contains a single and minute 

 seed, the head of fruits being in the form of a little catkin. The leaves 

 are simple, undivided, and potiolate. It is diffused throughout the 

 woods of Europe, Northern Asia, the Himalayahs, and North America, 

 and makes its appearance even upon the mountains of Columbia and 

 Peru, and in the antarctic regions, capable apparently, in certain 



