45G ruptTi,iF!-.R.i:. (oak family.) 



4. CORYLUS, Tmnn. IIazi:l-nct. Filbert. 



Sterile llowers in drooiiitii,^ eyliiub-ical catkins eonsistinj,^ of 8 (lialt-) stamens 

 with l-ceiled antlier.s, their siiort lilanients anil jiair of sealy i)raetlets eolicrin,<^ 

 more or less witli tlic inner face of the braet or scale of tlie catkin. Fertile 

 flowers several in a scaly bnd or ovoid catkin, each a single ovary in the axil of 

 a scale or bract, and accompanied l)y a pair of lateral braetlcts ; the ovary 

 tipped with a sliort limb of the adherent calyx, incompletely 2-celled, with 2 

 pendnlous ovules, one of them sterile: style short: stigmas 2, elongated and 

 slender. Nut ovoid or oblong, bony, each enclosed in a leafy or partly coria- 

 ceous cup or involucre, consisting of the two braetlcts enlarged and often grown 

 together, lacerated at the border. Cotyledons very thick (but raised to the sur- 

 face of the soil in germination), edible; the short radicle included. — Shrubs oi 

 small trees, with thinnish doubly-toothed leaves, folded lengtliwise in the l)n(l, 

 flowering in early spring : sterile catkins single or fascicled from scaly buds of 

 the axils of the jjrcccding year, the fertile terminating early leafyishoots. (The 

 classical name, jjrobably from Kopvs, n hcJmet, from the involucre.) 



1. C. Americana, Walt. (Wild Hazel mt.) Lcnrts round ish-hmrt- 

 shaped, pointed ; hivoliureojirn above down to the globose nut, of 2 broudjbliuceoua 

 cut-tootJied c^inost distinct bracts, their base coriaceous and downy, or with glantlular 

 bristles intermixed. — Thickets : common. — Twigs and petioles often glandular- 

 bristly. Nut smaller and thicker-shcllod than the European Hazel-nut. 



2. C. rOStr^ta, Ait. (Beaked H.\zel-nut.) Leaves orate or orolfi-n'i'onrj, 

 somcw/iat /i(art-s/iitpi(l, pointed ; involucre of united bracts, much jnvlowjed above the 

 ovoid nut into a narrow tubular beak, densely bristly. — Common northward and 

 along the Alleghanies. — Shrub 2° -5° high, with slender and mostly smooth 

 branches. 



6. OSTRYA, Micheli. Hop-Hornbeam. Iron-wood. 



Sterile flowers in drooping cylindrical catkins, consisting of several stamens 

 in the axil of each bract: filaments short, often forked, or irregularly united, 

 bearing 1-cclled (half-) anthers; their tips hairy. Fertile flowers in short cat- 

 kins ; a pair under each deciduous bract, each of an incompletely 2-celled 2- 

 ovulcd ovary, crowned with the short bearded border of the adherent calyx, 

 tipped with 2 long-linear stigmas, and enclosed in a tubular bractlet, which in 

 fruit becomes a closed bladdery oblong bag, very much larger than the small 

 and smooth nut ; these inflated involucres loosely imbricated to form a sort of 

 strobile, in appearance like that of the Hop. — Slender trees, with very hard 

 wood, brownish furrowed bark, and foliage resembling that of Birch : leaves 

 open and concave in the bud, more or less plaited on the straight veins. Flow- 

 ers in spring, appearing with the leaves; the sterile catkins 1 -3 together from 

 scaly buds at the tip of the branches of the preceding year; the fertile Single, 

 terminating short leafy shoots of the season. (The classical name.) 



1. O. Virginica, Willd. (American Hoi'-Hornbeam. Lever-wood.) 

 Leaves oblong-ovate, ta])er-pointed, very sharply doubly .serrate, downy beneath, 

 with 11-1.') jirineipal veins; buds acute; involucral sacs bristly-hairy at the 

 base. — Rich woods: common. Hop-like fruit full grown in Aug. 



