208 THE WHITE OAK. 



blossoms and fruit of any Oak will, however, serve for this 



Analysis (generic). The Oaks put forth two kinds of 

 flowers on the same tree. The sterile or staminate ( $ ) are 



Fia. LVL Quercus alba. 



disposed in long, slender, pendulous clusters called aments 

 or catkins, several from one bud. They consist merely of a 

 5-8-lobed calyx with 5-8 stamens. The fertile or pistillate 

 ( $ ) are solitary, or few together each an ovary with 3 

 stigmas invested with a scaly involucre. The ovary is 

 3-celled,, with 2 pendulous, anatropous ovules in each cell. 



