404 CUPULIFER.S:. (oak family.) 



1. QUERCUS, L. Oak. 



Sterile flowers clustered in slender and naked drooping catkins, without bracts : 

 calyx 6- 8-parted :' stamens 6-12 : anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers scattered 

 or somewhat clustered, consisting of a 3-celled and 6-ovuled ovary, with a 3- 

 lobed stigma, enclosed by a scaly bud-like involucre which becomes an indurated 

 cup (cupule) around the base of the rounded nut or acorn. Cotyledons remain- 

 ing underground in germination. — Flowers greenish or yellowish, the fertile 

 ones inconspicuous. Aments several from the same scaly bud. (The classical 

 Latin name.) All flower in spring, and shed their nuts in October. 

 $ 1. Fruit ripening the first year, mostly pedunckd : leaves not bristly-toothed or pointed. 

 # Leaves simiate-lobcd or pinnatifid, all pale, whitish, or grayish-downy underneath. — 



White Oaks. 



1. Q. maciocarpa, Michx. (Bur-Oak. Over-cup or Mossy-cup 

 White-Oak.) Leaves obovate or oblong, lyratcly-pinnatijid or deeply sinuate- 

 Lbed. irregular, downy or pale beneath ; the lobes sparingly and obtusely toothed, 

 or the smaller ones entire ; cup deep, conspicuously imbricated, of hard and thick 

 pointed scales, the upper ones awned, so as to make a mossy-fringed border ; acorn 

 ovoid ( 1' - U' long), half immersed in or entirely enclosed by the cup. — Dry woods, 

 along rivers, &c, W. New England to Wisconsin, Kentucky, and southwest- 

 ward. — A handsome, middle-sized tree. Cup very variable, especially in size, 

 from §' to 2' across. 



Var. oliva;f6rmis (Q. olivoeformis, Michx.) is plainly a mere state of 

 this (figured by Micbaux with unripe or imperfect fruit), with narrower and 

 more deeply lobed leaves, and oblong acorns and cups : growing with the ordi- 

 nary form. 



2. <fc. obtusiloba, Michx. (Post-Oak. Rough or Box White- 

 Oak.) Leaves grayish-eloumy underneath, pale and rough above, thickish, sinuatcly 

 cut into 5-7 roundish divergent lobes, the upper ones much larger and often 

 1 -3-notched ; cup saucer-shaped, naked, about one third the length of the ovoid acorn. 

 (Q. stellata, Willd.) — Sandy or sterile soil, from the coast of Massachusetts 

 and from Wisconsin southward. — A small tree, with very durable wood. 

 Acorns I' to §' long, nearly sessile. 



3. Q. alba, L. (White Oak.) Mature leaves smooth, pale or glaucous 

 underneath, bright green above, obovate-oblong, obliquely and moderately or deeply 

 cut into 3-9 oblong or linear and obtuse mostly entire lobes ; cup hemispherical- 

 saucer-shaped, rough or tubercled at maturity, naked, much shorter than the ovoid or 

 oblong acorn. — Rich woods ; common.— A well-known and invaluable large tree. 

 Lobes of the leaves short and broad 3-5, or 5-9 and narrow. Acorn about 

 1' long ; the kernel sweet and edible. 



* * Leaves coarsely sinuate-toothed, but not lobed, whitish and more or less downy be- 

 neatli : cu}> hoary : acorns sweet-tasted. — Chestnut-Oaks. 



4. Q. PrimiS, L. (Swamp Chestnut-Oak.) Leaves obovate or oblong- 

 obovate, coarsely and somewhat uniformly dentate with rounded teeth, downy 

 beneath, glabrous above ; cup hemispherical (either abrupt or witb a small top- 

 shaped base), thick, tubercled when old, nearly half or one third ihe length of 



