470 MYKICACEjE. (SWEET-GALE FAMILY.) 



scales which coalesce with its base. Wet borders of ponds, Newf. to N. Eng. 

 and along the Great Lakes to Minn., south in the mountains to Va. 



2. M. cerifera, L. (EATBERRY. WAX-MYRTLE.) Leaves oblong -lan- 

 ceolate, narrowed at the base, entire or wavy-toothed toward the apex, shining 

 and resinous-dotted both sides, somewhat preceding the flowers, fragrant ; sterile 

 catkins scattered, oblong ; scales wedge-shaped at the base ; nuts scattered and 

 naked, bony, and incrusted with white wax. Sandy soil near the coast, from 

 Nova Scotia to Fla. and Ala. ; also on L. Erie. Shrub 3-8 high, but some- 

 times a tree 35 high ; fruit sometimes persistent for 2 or 3 years. 



* * Frequently monoecious ; fertile catkins globular ; ovary surrounded by 8 long 



linear-awl-shaped persistent scales ; nut ovoid-oblony ; leaves plnnatijid with 

 many rounded lobes. 



3. M. asplenifdlia, Endl. Shrub 1-2 high, with sweet scented fern- 

 like linear-lanceolate leaves ; stipules half heart-shaped ; scales of the sterile 

 catkins kidney -heart-shaped, pointed. (Comptonia asplenifolia, Ait.) Sterile 

 hills, N. Eng. to N. C., west to Minn, and Ind. Known as Sweet Fern. 



ORDER 103. CUPULIFER^. (OAK FAMILY.) 



Monoecious trees or shrubs, tvith alternate simple straight-veined leaves, 

 deciduous stipules, the sterile flowers in catkins (or capitate-clustered in 

 the Beech), the fertile solitary, clustered, spiked, or in scaly catkins, the 

 l-celled and 1-seeded nut with or without an involucre. Ovary more or 

 less 2 - 7-celled, with 1 or 2 pendulous anatropous ovules in each cell ; 

 but all the cells and ovules except one disappearing in the fruit. Seed 

 with no albumen, filled with the embryo. 



Tribe I. BETULEJE. Flowers in scaly catkins, 2 or 3 to each bract. Sterile catkins 

 pendulous. Stamens 2-4, and calyx usually 2- 4-parted. Fertile flowers with no calyx, 

 and no involucre to the compressed and often winged small nut. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled. 



1. Betula. Stamens 2, bifid. Fertile scales thin, 3-lobed, deciduous with the nuts. 



2. Alnus. Stamens 4. Fertile scales thick, entire, persisting after the nuts have fallen. 



Tribe II. CORTLE^. Sterile catkins pendulous, with no calyx ; stamens 3 or more 

 to each bract and more or less adnate to it, the filaments often forked (anthers l-celled). 

 Fertile flowers in a short ament or head, 2 to each bract, and each with one or more 

 bractlets which form a foliaceous involucre to the nut. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled. 

 * Bract of staminate flower furnished with a pair of bractlets inside ; fertile flowers few. 



?. Corylus. Involucre leafy-coriaceous, enclosing the large bony nut. 



* * Bract of staminate flower simple ; fertile flowers in short catkins ; mit small, achene-like. 



4. Ostrya. Each ovary and nut included in a bladdery and closed bag. 



5. Carpi 11 us. Each nut subtended by an enlarged leafy bractlet. 



Tribe III. QUEKCINE^. Sterile flowers with 4-7-lobed calyx and stamens indefi- 

 nite (3-20). Fertile flowers 1 or few, enclosed in a cupule consisting of consolidated 

 bracts, which becomes indurated (scaly or prickly) and surrounds or encloses the nut. 



* Sterile flowers in slender catkins. 



6. Quercus. Cupule 1-flowered, scaly and entire ; nut hard and terete. 



7. Castaiiea. Cupule 2 - 4-flowered, forming a prickly hard bur, 2-4-valved when ripe. 



* * Sterile flowers in a small head. 



8. Fagus. Cupule 2-flowered, 4-valved, containing 2 sharply triangular nuts. 



