104 Fagaceae 



(1-3); pistillate aments 4-6 mm. long; cones broadly oblong, 

 12-20 mm. long; seeds acutely margined. 



Common along mountain streams and occasionally extending down into 

 the valleys. January. 



Family 18. FAGACEAE. BEECH FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs with evergreen or deciduous alternate 

 petioled leaves and small monoecious flowers, the stam- 

 inate in pendulous erect or spreading aments, the pistil- 

 late solitary or several together, subtended by an invo- 

 lucre of more or less united bracts, which becomes a bur 

 or cup. Petals none. Staminate flowers with a 4-7- 

 lobed perianth and 4-20 stamens ; filaments slender, dis- 

 tinct ; anther sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Pistillate 

 flowers with a 4-8-lobed urn-shaped or oblong perianth, 

 adnate to the 3-7-celled ovary ; ovules 1-2 in each cell, 

 only 1 in each ovary maturing, pendulous, anatropous ; 

 styles as many as cells to the ovary, linear. Fruit a 

 1 -seeded nut, with coriaceous or bony exocarp. Endo- 

 sperm none ; cotyledons large, fleshy. 



Represented with us by a single genus. 1. QUERCUS. 



1. QUERCUS L. OAK. 



Trees or shrubs with persistent or deciduous leaves 

 and small green or yellowish monoecious flowers, 

 the staminate numerous in slender mostly drooping 

 aments, the pistillate solitary in many-bracted involu- 

 cres. Staminate flowers subtended by caducous bracts, 

 consisting of mostly a 6-lobed campanulate perianth and 

 5-12 stamens with filiform filaments. Pistillate with an 

 urn-shaped or oblong 3-celled ovary ; ovules 2 in each 

 cell ; styles usually 3, short. Fruit (acorn) consisting 

 of the imbricated and more or less united bracts of the 

 involucre (cup), subtending or nearly enclosing the 

 1-seeded coriaceous nut. 



