CUPULIFER^E. (OAK FAMILY.) 403 



Kernel is difficult of extraction from the thick and bony nut. — A var. maxima, 

 Njtt., bears fruit " as large as an apple," with an exceedingly thick husk. 



o. C microcarpa, Nutt. (Sjiall-fruited Hickory.) Leaflets 5- 



7, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, glandular underneath (not downy) ; catkins smooth ; 

 fruit roundish-ovoid, with a thin husk; nut slightly 4-angled, the shell rather thin. 



— Moist woodlands, Penn. (N. England?) and southwestward. — Fruit only 4' 

 in diameter, shaped like that of the last ; the foliage much as in the next. 



6. C. gifsbra, Torr. (Pig-nut or Broom Hickory.) Leaflets 5-7, 

 ovate-lanceolate, serrate, smooth or nearly so ; fruit pear-shaped or roundish-obovate, 



thin, splitting about half-way down into 4 coriaceous valves ; nut bard and 

 tough, witn a sweetish or bitterish small kernel. (C. porcina, JS T utt.) — Wood- 

 lands; common. — A large tree, with a close bark, very tough and valuable 

 wood, and exceedingly tough sprouts (used as hickory withes) : the fruit and nuts 

 of variable fomi. Heart-wood dark-colored. 



* * * Seed intensely bitter : husk thin and soft : bark smooth : buds little scab/. 



7. C. amara, Nutt. (Bitter-nut or Swamp Hickory.) Leaflets 

 7-11, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth ; fruit globular, with ridged or promi- 

 nent seams opening half-way down ; nut inversely heart-shaped, its shell thin 

 and fragile. — Wet woods ; common. — A graceful tree; the timber inferior to 

 the other Hickories. Nut-shell so fragile that it may be crushed with the hand ; 

 the bitter kernel remarkably corrugated. 



Order 107. CUPULIFERiE. (Oak Family.) 



Trees or shrubs, icilh alternate and simple straight-veined leaves, deciduous 

 stipules, and monoecious flowers ; the sterile in catkins (aments) (or capitate- 

 clustered in the Beech) ; the fertile solitary or clustered, furnished with an 

 involucre which forms a cup or covering to the l-celled l-seeded nut. Ovary 

 2 - 7-celled, with 1-2 pendulous anatropous ovules in each cell ; but all 

 the cells and ovules except one disappearing in the fruit. Calyx adherent 

 to the ovary, the minute teeth crowning its summit. Seed with no albu- 

 men, filled with the embryo: cotyledons very thick and fleshy: radicle 

 short, superior. 



Synopsis. 



» Fertile flowers scattered or few in a cluster. 



1. QUERCUS. Involucre 1-flowered, of many imbricated small scales, forming a cup around 



the base of the hard and rounded nut. 



2. CASTANEA. Involucre 2-3-flowered, forming a prickly bur enclosing 1-3 coriaceous 



nuts, opening at length by 4 valves. 



3. FAGUS. Involucre 2-flowered, rather prickly, 4-valved, enclosing 2 sharply triangular 



nuts. Sterile flowers in capitate clusters. 



4. CORYLUS. Involucre 1 - 2-flowered, formed of 2 - 3 confluent scales, which become leafy- 



coriaceous, much enlarged and cut or lorn at the apex, enclosing a bony nut. 

 * * Fertile flowers clustered in a kind of ament. 



5. CARPINUS. Involucre a separate open leaf, 2-flowered. Fruit a small ovoid nut. 



8. OSTRYA Involucre a bladdery bag, 1-flowered, enclosing the seed-like nut. 



