118 AMERICAN" HANDBOOK 



ovoidal, muricated involucre. Pistil with 

 the base covered by the calyx. Styles three, 

 awl-shaped. Nut triangular. 



1. R FERRUGINEA, Aiton. Leaves oblong 

 ovate, acuminate, more or less dentate, cili- 

 ate; the flexible armature, or bracts, of the 

 involucre spreading, or recurved. American 

 beech. 



Who does not know the beech? From 

 the child who cuts its name on the smooth 

 gray bark, to the aged one who stops, lean- 

 ing on his staff, to take an oft-repeated look 

 at some noble specimen in a landscape. It 

 looks well in any situation where quietness 

 and graceful elegance are sought to be ex- 

 pressed. In wild or rugged scenery, I con- 

 sider it out of place. By itself, in a quiet, 

 sheltered nook, in a deep rich loam, it will 

 form an object not easily surpassed for beau- 

 ty. Its deep green glossy foliage ; its slen- 

 der feathery branches; the silvery gray of 

 its trunk, with its robust, ample proportions, 

 cannot fail to excite admiration. In wild, 

 rugged scenery, its foliage seems too dense 

 for its light branches ; and the head is too 

 regular, and seeming too overgrown to be in 



