614 



BETULACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



5. Alnus maritima (Marsh.) Muhl. Sea- 

 side Alder. Fig. 1510. 



Betula Alnus maritima Marsh. Arb. Am. 20. 1785. 

 Alnus maritima Muhl.; Nutt. Sylva 1 : 34. t. 102. 1865. 



A small tree, sometimes 30 tall and the trunk 

 6' in diameter, glabrous or very nearly so through- 

 out. Leaves oblong, ovate-oblong or obovate, firm, 

 acute at both ends, bright green and shining above, 

 pale green and dull beneath, sharply serrulate, 2'-^' 

 long, i'-2' wide; petioles 3"-io" long; aments un- 

 folding long after the leaves, their buds developing 

 during the season, the staminate \'-2\' long, the pis- 

 tillate oblong, 9"-i2" long, s"-/' in diameter in 

 fruit; .nut oblong-obovate, wingless, coriaceous- 

 margined. 



In wet soil, southern Delaware and eastern Mary- 

 land ; also in Oklahoma. Closely related to A. japonica 

 of northeastern Asia. Wood soft, light brown ; weight 

 per cubic foot 31 Ibs. Aug.-Sept. 



Family 7. FAGACEAE Drude, Phan. 409. 1879. 

 BEECH FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, petioled, simple, dentate, serrate, lobed, 

 cleft or entire, pinnately veined, the stipules, if any, deciduous. Flowers small, 

 monoecious, the staminate in pendulous erect or spreading aments, or capitate, 

 the pistillate solitary or several together, subtended by an involucre of partly or 

 wholly united bracts, which becomes a bur or cup. Petals none. Staminate 

 flowers with a 4-7-lobed perianth and 4-20 stamens; filaments slender, distinct, 

 simple ; anther-sacs adnate, 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 cavity, only i in each ovary ripening, pendulous, anatropous ; styles as 

 many as the cavities of the ovary, linear, terminally or longitudinally stigmatic. 

 Fruit a i-seeded nut, with a coriaceous or somewhat bony exocarp. Testa thin. 

 Endosperm none ; cotyledons large, fleshy, often rugose ; radicle short. 



About 5 genera and 375 species, of very wide geographic distribution. 



i. Fagus. 



Staminate flowers capitate ; nut sharply triangular. 



Staminate flowers in slender aments ; nut rounded or plano-convex. 



Pistillate flowers 2-5 in each involucre ; involucre becoming globose and very prickly in fruit, 



enclosing the nuts. 2. Castanea. 



Pistillate flower i in each involucre ; involucre of numerous scales forming a cup in fruit and 



subtending the acorn. 3. Quercus. 



i. FAGUS (Tourn.) L. Sp. PI. 997. 1753. 



Trees, with smooth light gray bark, and serrate straight-veined leaves. Flowers appear- 

 ing with the leaves, the staminate in slender-peduncled pendulous globose heads, the pistillate 

 about 2 together in short-peduncled subulate-bracted involucres in the upper axils. Staminate 

 flowers yellowish-green, subtended by deciduous bracts, consisting of a campanulate 4-8-lobed 

 calyx, and 8-16 stamens with filiform filaments. Pistillate flowers with a 6-lobed perianth 

 adnate to a 3-celled ovary; ovules 2 in each cavity, usually I only of each ovary maturing; 

 styles 3, filiform. Nut coriaceous, sharply 3-angled, enclosed in the 4-valved bur. [Name 

 from the Greek, to eat, referring to the esculent nuts.] 



About 4 species of the northern hemisphere. Only the following is native in North America. 

 Type species : Fagus sylvatica L. 



