FIR TRIBE 



267 



in general outline, with usually sinuate, bluntly-lobed edges, 

 sometimes almost pinnately lobed. The excellence of the timber 

 has become almost proverbial ; the bark is used for tanning ; the 

 galls, which form from the attacks of certain insects, have been used 

 in the manufacture of ink ; and the acorns are relished by swine. 

 Fl. in spring, when the leaves are expanding. 



9. Corylus (Hazel). Barren flowers in a long, drooping, cylin- 

 drical catkin ; scales 3-cleft ; stamens 8 ; fertile flowers, several, 

 enclosed in a bud-like involucre ; stigmas 2 ; nut enclosed in the 

 enlarged, jagged involucre. (Name, the Latin name of the tree.) 



C. avellana (Common Hazel). A shrub or small tree, with coarse, 

 rounded, serrated leaves. The barren catkins, which form in the 

 autumn, expand early in spring before the leaves appear ; the 

 fertile flowers may be recognized by their crimson stigmas ; nuts 

 edible. 



10. Carpinus (Hornbeam). 

 Barren flowers in a long 

 cylindrical catkin ; scales 

 roundish ; fertile flowers in 

 a loose catkin ; scales large 

 and leaf-like, 3-lobed ; stig- 

 mas 2 ; nut strongly ribbed. 

 (Name, the Latin name of 

 the tree.) A small tree, 

 with ovate, doubly serrate 

 leaves, somewhat downy be- 

 neath. The tough wood is 

 used for making cog-wheels. 

 Indigenous to the south of 

 England and Wales. Fl. 

 when the leaves are expand- 

 ing in spring. 



Carpinus Betulds 

 (Common Hornbeam) 



Natural Order LXXVIII 

 CONIFERiE. Fir Tribe 



Stamens and -pistils in separate flowers, and often on different 

 trees. Stamens collected in sets around a common stalk ; fertile 

 flowers in cones, destitute of styles and stigmas ; fruit, a cone, com- 

 posed of hardened scales or bracts, bearing, at the base of each, 

 naked seeds, which are often winged. A large Order of trees, 

 represented in all parts of the globe. They vary from mere stunted 

 bushes to the gigantic Redwood trees of California. Only three 

 species are natives of Britain, but a large number are planted both 

 as forest trees and as ornamental garden trees and bushes. 



