450 CUPULIFER^. (oak FAMILY.) 



<lisapj)oaring in the fruit. Calyx adlierent to the ovary, the minute teeth 

 crowning its summit. Seed with no albumen, filled with the embryo: 

 cotyledons thick and fleshy, in many edib'e : radicle short, superior. Stip- 

 ules forming the bud-scales. Leaves usually conduplicate in the bud. 



Tribe I. Q,rKRCIIVEj^. Sterile flowers with a distinct 4-7-lobed cnlyx, including 

 3-20 stamens : filaments slender, free, exserted : anthers '2-eelled. Fertile flowers one or 

 few enclosed in a cupule consisting of bracts variously consolidated. Ovary imperfectly 

 3-7-celled, crowned with 3-8 (mostly 6) calyx-teeth, forming a nut {gland), in fruit 

 surrounded or euclo.^ed by the indurated scaly or prickly cupule. 

 • Sterile flowers in slender catkins. 



1. Quercus. Cupule l-flowered, scaly, and entire: nut hard and terete. 



2. Cnstanea. Cupule 2 - 4-flowcrcd, forming a prickly hard bur, 2 -4-valved when ripe. 



« * Sterile flowers in a small head. 



3. Fagiis. Cupule 2-8owered, 4-valved, containing 2 sharply triangular nuts. 



Tribe II. CARPIJVEiE. Sterile flowers destitute of true calyx, consisting of several 

 stamens included under and more or less adnate to a bract : filaments short : anthers 1- 

 celled. Fertile flowers in a short spike, catkin, or head, two together under each fertile 

 bract, each with one or more br.actlets, wliich form a foliaceous or membranaceous invo- 

 lucre to the nut. Ovary imperfectly 2-celled, 2-ovuled. Seed-coat single. 



* Bract of staminate flower furnished with a pair of braetlets inside. 



4. Corylus. Involucre enclosing the large bony nut, leafy -coriaceous. 



» * Bract of staminate flower simple : nut small, achenium-like. 



5. Ostrya. Each ovary and nut included in a bladdery and closed bag. 

 C. CarpiDUS. Each nut subtended by an enlarged leafy bractlet. 



1. QUERCXJS, L. Oaiv. 



Sterile flowers in slender and naked catkins: bracts caducous: calyx 2-8- 

 parted or lobed : stamens 3 - 12 : anthers 2-ccllcd. Fertile flowers scattered or 

 somewhat clustered, consisting of a nearly 3-cellcd and 6-ovulcd ovary, with a 

 3-lol)ed stigma, enclosed by a scaly bud-like involucre which becomes an indu- 

 rated cup (cupule) around the base of the rounded nut or acorn. Cotyledons 

 remaining underground in germination : radicle very short, included. — Flowers 

 greenish or yellowish. Sterile catkins single or often several from tlic same 

 lateral scaly bud, filiform and hanging in all our sjiccies. (The classical Latin 

 name.) All flower in spring, and shed their nuts in Oct(jber. 

 § 1. AxxuAL-FRCiTED ; i. c. acoms perfected in the autumn of the Jlist year, home 

 tlarefore on the icood of the season, muallij in the axil of the leaves, and often 

 ruisid on a peduncle; the kernel commonljj sweet-tasted: lubes or teeth of the 

 leiivtsifanijnothriMle-pointed: abortive ovules persistent under the seed : sterile 

 flowers mostly 4 - 6-parted and 8-<indrous. 



* AViiiTii O.VKS. Leaves li/rafe or sinuate-pinnatijid, }>ale beneath. 

 1. Q. alba, L. (White Oak.) Mature leaves smooth, pale or </laucous 

 underneath, hriyht green above, obovate-oblong, obliquely cut into 3-9 oblong or 

 linear and obtuse mostly entire lobes ; cup hen»s]thei'ical-sai(cer-shaped, rough or 

 tuhercUd at maturity, tuihd, much shorter than the ovoid or oblong acorn. — Tiich 

 woods : common. — A valuable large tree. Lobes of the leaves short and broad 

 3 - 5, or 5 - 9 deep and narrow. Acorn about 1 ' long ; kernel edible. 



