CUPULIFERE 299 



and 8-16 stamens : fertile flowers 2, in a close involucre, ripening into 2 

 three-cornered "beech nuts" in a 4-valved bur. 



F. Americana, Ait. American beech. Close-grained, hard-wood tree, 

 with light colored bark: leaves ovate-oblong and acuminate, coarsely serrate^ 

 usually with 9 or more pairs of nerves: nuts ripening in the fall, and much 

 sought by boys and squirrels. A common forest tree. 



F. sylvatica, Linn. European beech. Fig. 138. Often planted, particularly 

 in the form of the Purple-leaved and Weeping beech: foliage differs in being 

 mostly smaller, ovate or elliptic, small-toothed, with 9 or less pairs of nerves. 



2. CASTANEA. CHESTNUT. 



Forest trees, with rough, furrowed bark: sterile flowers with 4-7-lobed 

 calyx and 8-20 stamens in very long, erect or spreading catkins, which 

 appear in clusters in midsummer: fertile flowers about 3 in an involucre, 

 producing "chestnuts " in a spiny bur. 



C. Americana, Raf. American chestnut. Fig. 241. Tall, straight- 

 grained tree, with large, broad and thin, oblong-lanceolate leaves, which are 

 taper-pointed, and have large teeth with spreading spines : nuts usually 1 in. 

 or less across, sweet. Grows as far west as Mich., and south to Miss. 



C. sativa, Mill. European chestnut. Less tall: leaves smaller and 

 narrower, more pubescent when young, not long-acuminate, the teeth smaller 

 and their spines more incurved: nuts 1 in. or more across, not so sweet as 

 those of the American chestnut. Europe. Very commonly planted. 



3. QUEKCUS. OAK. 



Strong, close-grained trees, with mostly laterally-lobed leaves: sterile 

 flowers in clustered hanging catkins, with a 4-7-lobed calyx, and 3-12 sta- 

 mens: fertile one in a shallow involucre which becomes the cup of the 

 acorn, the stigma 3-lobed: fruit an acorn. See Fig. 212, which represents 

 the English oak ( Q. Jiobur) often planted in choice grounds. 



a. White oak group, distinguished by its light gray scaly bark, rounded 

 lobes or teeth of the leaves, and the acorns maturing the first year. 

 (Q. virens has nearly or quite entire leaves.) 



Q. alba, Linn. White oak. Fig. 441. Leaves obovate, 5 or G inches 

 long, the lobes usually 7 and at equal distances apart, and the sinuses 

 deep or shallow : acorn small, with a rather shal- 

 low and not fringed cup. The commonest species. 



441. Quercus alba. 442. Quercus macrocarpa. 443. Quercus Prinus. 



Q. macrocarpa, Michx. Bur oak. Fig. 442. Leaves obovate, downy 

 or pale on the lower surface, toothed towards the tips and irregularly and 



