JUGLAXDACEAE 



265 



Pistillate flowers solitary, or in pairs, pedunculate. Fruit % of an inch long, 

 thickly sprinkled with yellow resinous particles, the epicarp thin, with 4 ridged 

 or prominent sutures at summit, partially opening. 

 Hob. Low grounds ; along streams : frequent. Fl. May. Fr. Octo. 



Obs. This has a general resemblance to the preceding; but the 

 rule "by their fruits shall ye know them" applies well, here. 



ORDER XCII. CUPULIF'ERAE. 



Trees, or shrubs; leaves alternate, simple, penninerved, with deciduous stipules; 

 flowers monoicous, the staminate ones mostly in cylindric (rarely globose) aments, 

 the pistillate furnished with an involucre which forms a kind of cupule, or covering, 

 to the (by abortion) 1-celled 1-seeded indehiscent nut ; calyx-tube adherent to the 

 2- to 7-celled ovary, the minute calyoc-leeth crowning its summit; embryo without 

 albumen, the cotyledons thick and fleshy. A highly important and valuable Order, 

 as will appear by the plants here enumerated. 



A. Anthers ^-celled. a. Cotyledons hypogaean in germination. 



372. QUER'ciis, L. 



]The ancient Classical name.] 



STAM. PL. An\enU several from the same scaly bud, simple, slen- 

 der, pendulous, the florets clustered, destitute of bracts. Calyx 

 6- to 8- (mostly 5-) parted; stamens 6 to 10 or 12. PISTILLATE 

 FL. in small clusters, sometimes on a long common peduncle. In- 

 volucre 1 -flowered,. formed of numerous little imbricated scales 

 (or bracts] united into a cup, and becoming woody, or bark-like. 

 Calyx 6-toothed. Ovary about 3-celled, each cell with a pair of 

 collateral suspended ovules ; stigmas as many as the cells. Nut (or 

 Acorn) ovoid, or oblong, mucronate, surrounded at base (sometimes 

 nearly included) by the enlarged indurated involucre, or cupule. 

 Mostly trees : flowers greenish, the pistillate ones quite inconspic- 

 uous; all appearing in May, and the fruit generally mature in 

 October. In about half the species, the acorns are biennial, i. e. 

 2 years in coming to maturity. The Oaks constitute a noble genus, 

 being emphatically (as ENDLICHER says of the Order,) "sylvarum 

 decora " the pride and ornament of our American forests. 



1. FKUIT ANNUAL; clusters mostly pedunculate; leaves not mucronate; cupule 



hemispherical or bowl^shaped. 

 t White-Oak group ; leaves obtusely sinuate or pinnatiJlcUobed. 



1. Q. Obtusiloba, MX. Leaves tawny-pubescent beneath, obo- 

 vate-oblong, cuneate at base, irregularly sinuate-lobed, the upper 

 lobes dilated, retuse ; acorn roundish-ovoid, rather small. 

 OBTUSE-LOBED QUERCUS. Post Oak. Barrens White-oak. 



Stem 20 to 40 or 50 feet high ; branches irregular, spreading, densely pubescent 

 while young. Leaves 4 to 6 inches long, subcoriaceous. mostly with 3 unequal 

 angular sinuses, the upper surface finally smoothish and shining, the under 

 clothed with a ferruginous or tawny stellate pubescence; petioles about half an 

 inch in length. Acorn about half an inch long, often depressed or umbilicate at 

 apex, the lower half embraced by the scaly hemispherical cupule, which is sessile, 

 or the fruit often in small clusters on a common peduncle. 

 2Iab. Dry sterile hills; on Serpentine rock : frequent. 



