ORDER 119. CUPULIFEILE. 647 



slender peduncle; calyx 6 -cleft, campanulate; stamens 5 to 12. $ 

 Flowers 2, within a 4-lobed, prickly involucre composed of united linear 

 scales; calyx with 5 to 6 minute lobes; ovary 3 celled, 6-ovuled; 

 styles 3 ; nut 1-seeded, acutely 3-angled, enclosed within the enlarged, 

 spiny involucre or capsule. Lofty trees, with smooth ash -colored bark. 

 Lvs. alternate, plicate in vernation. Buds slender, pointed. 



P. sylvatica L. (Figs. 438, 4714. 46, B.) Lvs. broadly ovate-lanceolate, 

 briefly petiolate, obtuse at base, ciliate, with soft white hairs when .young, at 

 length nearly glabrous, with small, remote teeth, apex acuminate ; buds laneeo- 

 late-cylindric, imbricated with brown scales, developing both leaves and flowers; 

 nuts ovoid triangular, obtuse-mucronate. A common forest tree, abundant in the 

 U. S. and Can. The trunk is tall and straight in forests, 50 80f high, but lower 

 and with an expansive head in open situations, always known by the light gray, 

 unbroken bark. Leaves with very regular and straight veinlets, 4 6' long, J as 

 wide, often persistent through the winter. $ Aments pubescent, peduncles 2' 

 long. Xut small, 2 together in the 4-lobed burr, oily, sweet and nutritious. Tim- 

 ber compact, fine-grained. May. (F. ferruginea Ait.) THE RED BEECH is now 

 regarded only as a variety, with the wood softer, and of more easy cleavage, and 

 perhaps a slight difference in foliage. There are several beautiful varieties in cul- 

 tivation, with purple foliage, silver foliage, &c. See garden catalogues. 



4. COR'YLUS, Tourn. HAZEL-NUT. (Gr. ttopvg, a bonnet ; to which 

 the cupule enwrapping the nut may well be compared.) $ Flowers in 

 a cylindric ament; calyx of 2 scales united at base to the bract; sta- 

 mens 8 ; anther 1-celled. ? Involucre of 2 to 3 scales, 1 to 2-flowered ; 

 calyx adherent to the 2-celled, 2-ovuled ovary ; stigmas 2 ; nut ovoid, 

 surrounded with the enlarged, coriaceous, lacerated involucre. Shrubs. 

 Aments and capitate fertile clusters subterminal, expanding before 

 the Ivs. 



1 C. Americana "Walt. Lvs. roundish, cordate., acuminate ; invol roundish, cam- 

 panulate. much larger than the roundish nut, its border dilated and coarsely ser- 

 rale. Shrub 5 to 6f high, growing in thickets and borders of fields, U. S. Lvs. 

 3 to C' long, | as wide. From the ends of the branches hang the long, pendulous 

 aments of barren flowers in April. The nuts are remarkably distinguished by 

 the large, bell-shaped invol. in which each one is enveloped. They are a well- 

 flavored fruit, though somewhat inferior to the European hazel or filbert. 



2 C. rostrata Ait. Lvs. ollong-ovate, acuminate; stip. linear-lanceolate: invol 

 campanulaie-tubular, longer than the nut, 2-parted, with dentate segments.- Thia 

 species is found in the same localities as the former, is a rather smaller shrub, and 

 chiefly differs from it in the involucre which is covered with short, stiff hairs, and 

 contracted at the top into a long (1 to 1|-'), r arrow neck, like a bottle. Nuts as 

 in C. Americana. May. 



3 C. Avellana L. FILBERT. Lvs. roundish, cordate, acuminate ; stip. 

 ovate- oblor.g, obtuse; invoL scarcely exceeding the fruit. Shrub 3 to lOf high, in 

 gardens, <tc. Lvs. nearly sessile, doubly serrate, 3 to 5' long. Sterile aments 3' 

 long, the fertile clusters at their base. Nut larger than the native species, f Asia, 



5. OS'TRYA, Michel. HOP HORNBEAM. IRON-WOOD. LEVER WOOD. 

 (Gr. oarpeov, a scale ; in allusion to the conspicuous sacs (not scales) of 

 the fertile aments.) $ Flowers in a cylindric ament ; calyx scale round- 

 ish-ovate, ciliate, 1-flowcred; anthers 8 or more, conspicuously bearded 

 at the summit. $ Flowers geminate, in a loose, imbricated ament; 

 flowers enclosed each in an inflated, membranous sac which at length' 

 enlarged, contains the matured nut. Small trees, flowering before 

 leafing. 



O. Virginica Willd. Lvs. ovate, acuminate, serrate ; fertile ament oblong, pen- 



