F'AGACEAE. 27 
Facus. Beech. 
(Family Fagaceae). 
Rather ovoid or round-topped 
trees with cylindrical smooth gray 
trunk, the bark frequently with 
included woody nodules: decidu- 
ous or with the dead leaves per- 
sisting far into the winter. Twigs 
slender, zig-zag, terete: pith 
rather small, roundish, continu- 
ous. Buds solitary or rarely su- 
pernumerary, sessile or becoming 
slightly stalked, divergent and 
very oblique over the leaf-scars, 
elongated fusiform and subpun- 
gent, with some 10 or more sgspi- 
rally arranged scales. Leaf-scars 
alternate, sometimes 2-ranked, lit- 
tle-raised, half-round, rather 
small: bundle-traces 3, the lower 
usually compound or broken into 
an irregular series: stipule-scars 
linear, nearly meeting around the 
twig. Children know the “lucky-nuts” of the bark. 
The beech affords an excellent illustration of buds ob- 
liquely placed over the leaf-scars,—a common occurrence when 
they are 2-ranked; and of buds elongated without being 
stalked, for the scales here begin at the very base of the bud. 
The species are distinguishable with difficulty except by 
aid of the foliage when it is present. 
1. Twigs often villous: buds puberulent. F. sylvatica. 
Twigs and lower bud-seales glabrous. 2. 
2. Buds light brown: leaves undulate. F. japonica. 
Buds red-brown: leaves serrate. (1). F. grandifolia. 
