520 



PART IV. CLASSIFICATION. 



In Ostrya (Southern Europe) the investmant of the fruit is an open 

 tube. 



Order 3. FAGACE.E. Flowers monoecious, with a perianth of five 

 or six segments. Ovary inferior, trilocular, with two ovules in 

 each loculus ; ovules anatropous, ascending or suspended ; the fruit 

 is one-seeded and indehiscent (a nut) ; it is invested by a cupule 

 formed probably by the connate bracteoles a' /?' a' ft' (Fig. 327), and 

 having its surface covered with scales, prickles, etc. The fila- 

 ments are not forked. 



In Quercus, the Oak, the $ catkins are loose ; each bract bears a single 

 flower in its axil without bracteoles : the perianth is 5-7 lobed, and the 

 stamens from 5-10 or indefinite (Fig. 3334). There is a single flower, the 

 median one, in the axil of each bract of the ? catkin ; thus the cupule in- 

 vests only a single fruit, and forms the so-called cup at its base. The 



leaves are developed 

 in order, and are ag- 

 gregated towards the 

 apices of the annual 

 shoots ; the annual 

 shoots are always ter- 

 minal. The $ catkins 

 are borne in the axils 

 of the uppermost bud- 

 scales (pairs of stipules) 



on b * 11 lon s and 

 dwarf - shoots of the 

 same year; the ? cat- 

 kins in the axils of the 

 foliage-leaves of the 

 terminal shoots: 

 flowering takes place 

 shortly after the un- 

 folding of the leaves. 

 The ovules are ascend- 

 ing. The hypogean cotyledons remain enclosed in the testa during 

 germination. Quercus Itobur is the English species, of which there are 

 two varieties, Quercus peduncuJata and Quercus sessiliflora : the former has 

 elongated ? catkins, so that the fruits are widely separated from each 

 other, and its pinnate! y lobed leaves are shortly stalked and cordate at 

 the base : the latter has compact ? catkins, so that the fruits form a 

 cluster, and its leaves have longer petioles, and are narrowed at the base. 

 Quercus Suber is the Cork-Oak of Southern Europe. There are also several 

 North American species. 



In Fagus, the Beech, the catkins of both kinds are stalked dichasial 

 clusters, borne each in the axil of a foliage-leaf. The flowers have no 

 bracts, or bracteoles, except the cupule of the $ flower, The flowers of 



c 



FIG. S3?. Quercus pedunculata. A3 flower mncrnified: 

 j> perianth ; a stamens. B $ flower magnified : d bract ; c 

 cnpule ; y the epijrynous perianth; g the style; n the 

 stigma. C The same, still more magnified, in longitudinal 

 section ; / ovary ; a ovules. 



