

FAGACEAE 347 



partially united parts. Stamens 4-20 : filaments distinct : anther-sacs opening 

 lengthwise. Pistillate flowers solitary or several in short or elongated aments. 

 Perianth of 4-8 partially united parts. Ovary 3-7-celled, adnate to the perianth : 

 styles as many as there are cavities in the ovary, stigmatic at the tip, or along 

 the side. Ovules 1-2 in each cavity, pendulous, anatropous, only 1 maturing. 

 Fruit a 1-seeded nut with a leathery or bony exocarp, included in or seated 

 in an accrescent scaly or spiny involucre. Testa membranous. Endosperm 

 wanting. 



Staminate aments globose, drooping on slender bracted peduncles : nuts 3-angled or 3-winged. 



1. FAGUS. 

 Staminate aments elongated, slender. 



Staminate aments erect or ascending : nuts 1-3, included in a very spiny involucre. 2. CASTANEA. 



Staminate aments drooping : nut seated in an involucre of imbricated scales. 3. QUERCUS. 



1. FAGUS L. 



Shrubs or trees with a close-grained wood, and a smooth pale bark. Leaf -blades leath- 

 ery, usually dentate-serrate : stipules rarely persistent. Staminate aments globose, pendu- 

 lous, peduncled : calyx campanulate 4-7-lobed ; lobes imbricated : stamens 8-16, inserted on 

 the base of the calyx ; filaments filiform ; anthers introrse. Pistillate flowers 2-4, in axil- 

 lary peduncled accrescent involucres composed of densely imbricated scales : calyx-limb 

 4-5-lobed. Staminodia wanting. Ovary inferior, 3-celled : styles 3, filiform, stigmatose 

 on the inner surface. Ovules 2 in each cavity. Mature involucre with fleshy spines, 4- 

 valved, entirely enclosing the nuts. Nuts 2-4, unequally 3-angled or 3-winged, with a 

 double pericarp, the outer coat leathery or crustaceous, the inner membranous. Cotyledons 

 oily, plicate, epigaeous. 



1. Fagus Ameiicana Sweet. A large forest tree, reaching a maximum height of 

 about 40 m., with a trunk diameter of 1.5 m., clothed with a pale or bluish bark. Leaves 

 rigid ; blades leathery, ovate, oval or oblong-ovate, 5-14 cm. long, usually short-acumi- 

 nate, rather distantly serrate, very silky when young, dark green, glabrous, dull or glossy 

 above in age, paler and pubescent on the nerves beneath : staminate aments 1-1.5 cm. in 

 diameter, drooping : peduncles 2-4 cm. long, pubescent : calyx 3-4 mm. long ; lobes ovate, 

 obtuse, becoming acutish, about as long as the tube : filaments exserted : pistillate flowers 

 usually 2 in each involucre : calyx silky ; lobes erect, linear-lanceolate, acute : ripe invo- 

 lucre bur-like, ovoid, 1.5-2 cm. long, short-peduncled, clothed with brown tomentum, the 

 soft spines spreading or recurved : nut ovoid, 1-1.5 cm. long, narrowly winged, finely 

 pubescent, edible. \_F. ferruginea Ait. ] 



Chiefly in deep damp woods, and on banks, Nova Scotia to Lake Huron, Florida and Texas. 

 Flowers from March to May ; matures its fruit in the fall. BEECH. 



2. CASTANEA Adans. 



Shrubs or trees, with a very porous wood. Leaf-blades coarsely serrate or serrate- 

 dentate with slender-tipped teeth. Staminate aments axillary, elongated, ill-scented, 

 plumose, each bract subtending 3-7 flowers, accompanied by 2 bractlets. Calyx campanu- 

 late, 6-lobed. Stamens 10-20, inserted on an inconspicuous receptacle : anthers introrse, 

 attached at the back. Pistillate aments axillary, above the staminate, bearing imbricated 

 sessile or nearly sessile involucres, each containing 2-3 flowers. Calyx-limb campanulate, 

 6-lobed. Staminodia present. Ovary inferior, imperfectly 6-celled : styles 6. Ovules 2 

 in each cavity. Fruit maturing in one season, composed of the accrescent spiny 2-4-valved 

 involucre, enclosing 1, 2 or 3 nuts. Nut with a leathery-cartilaginous pericarp. Coty- 

 ledons large, fleshy, more or less furrowed. 



Stems horizontal under the surface of the ground, the branches erect. 1. C. nana. 



Stems normal, erect or ascending. 



Usually shrubby, sometimes a small tree : leaf-blades densely white-tomentose beneath. 2. C. pumila. 



A large tree : leaf-blades glabrous on both surfaces. 3. C. dentata. 



1. Castanea nana Muhl. A low shrub, forming wide patches by the means of under- 

 ground stems. Branches solitary or clustered, erect, 2-5 dm. tall, glabrous except the twigs : 

 leaf-blades oblong or oblong-obovate, 5-15 cm. long, obtuse or apiculate, sinuate-toothed, 

 dark green above, clothed with a thin tawny or dirty-white tomentum beneath ; lateral 

 nerves in 12-14 pairs, at irregular intervals, sometimes branching, usually recurved at the 

 ends ; petioles 1-4 mm. long : staminate aments 5-15 cm. long, much interrupted, commonly 



