MONCECIA. 201 



by the sides of ponds and rivers, and is the chief ornament 

 of such places. It rises to the height of two or three feet, 

 and bears a close spike of white flowers. Leaves radical, 

 large, distinctly and beautifully arrow-shaped, with very con- 

 spicuous veins ; scape somewhat triangular ; petals three, or- 

 bicular, and deciduous. * It is perennial. 



GENUS Castanea. Chestnut. Name from Castanea, a 

 town in Thessaly, where the most magnificent Chestnut trees 

 are still to be seen.- It is said that the oldest trees in the 

 world are of this kind. This tree is a native of the new, as 

 well as of the old world, and between them there is no spe- 

 cific difference. Our chestnut is one of the largest of North 

 American forest trees, growing to the height of 80 or 90 feet. 

 The fruit is so highly esteemed as to be well known in most 

 parts of the world, being an article of commerce. 



The Beech, (Fagus,} Hazel and Filbert, (Corylus^) and 

 Walnut, (Juglans,) belong here. 



GENUS Quercus. Oak. Name from the Celtic, quer, fine, 

 and cuez, tree. Of this genus botanists enumerate fifty or 

 sixty species, and many varieties. In North America, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Torrey, we have thirty-four species of the Oak. 

 The Black, White, and Red Oak, are well known forest and 

 timber trees. For the construction of machinery requiring 

 strength and durability, White Oak is considered superior to 

 all other American woods. 



The Cork tree, (Quercus suber,) is a member of this family. 

 It is cultivated in Spain, Portugal, and the south of France, 

 for its cork bark. The exterior bark is the cork, which is 

 taken off once in about ten years. There is an interior bark 

 which protects the tree, and which in its Fig. 199. 



turn becomes cork. The tree grows to the 

 height of twenty or thirty feet. The leaves 

 are oblong, ovate, entire, and somewhat re- 

 motely serrate, and like other Oaks, its fruit 

 is an acorn, Fig. 199. It is said that strip- 

 ping off the bark, so far from injuring these 

 trees, is the means of increasing their lon- 

 gevity, so that trees which are never barked 

 live only fifty or sixty years, while those 



What is said of the name and age of the chestnut tree ? What num- 

 ber of the Quercus genus grow in North America ? For what purposes 

 is the wood of the oak considered superior to all others ? What is the use 

 of the quercus suber ] 



