TREES GROWING IN RICH SOIL. 183 



BEAKED HAZEL-NUT. {Plate XC VI.) 



Cdrylus rostrata. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Birch. Erect, stiff. 4-8 feet. Nova Scotia southward Aprils May. 



and westward. Fruit: Aug., Sept. 



Branches: light brown; glabrous or often pubescent; slender. Twigs: 

 nearly glabrous. Leaves: simple; alternate; with slender petioles; ovate, 

 or ovate-oblong; pointed at the apex and slightly cordate or blunt at the base; 

 doubly serrate; bright green above; glabrous; paler underneath and nearly 

 glabrous; thin. Staminate flcnvers : growing in catkins ; the single flowers un- 

 der each bract with four stamens divided so as to produce eight anthers. Pis- 

 tillate flowers : growing in dense spikes and having two flowers under each scale. 

 Fruit: growing in the base of an involucre which is prolonged into a curved 

 tube, cut at the summit and covered with bristly yellow hairs. Nut : brown; 

 ovoid or ovate. Kernel: edible; sweet. 



Especially when in fruit is this species of hazel-nut readily 

 distinguished from the common one ; for although they both 

 have strangely fashioned involucres that of Corylus rostrata 

 extends into a long, curious beak, and is moreover covered with 

 reddish tipped bristles which, when the nuts are being gathered, 

 penetrate the skin as readily as spun glass. This involucre is 

 indeed a most interesting contrivance. Its future existence, 

 as can be seen under a microscope, is foretold by a tiny ring 

 about the young ovary. Small as it is, it has a strong deter- 

 mination to grow and develops to some extent even when one or 

 neither of the pistillate flowers has been fertilized and there- 

 fore does not proceed to grow. This seems to be mere presump- 

 tion on its part; as its field of usefulness does then not exist, 

 and it but raises false hopes in the hearts of those seeking the 

 nuts. How much more are those appreciated that practice no 

 deception, but at maturity split open as though proudly to 

 show the fruit they have guarded. 



LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN. POPLAR. {Plate XC VII.) 

 Pdpulus grandidentata. 



FAMILY 8HAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Willow. Heady narrow; branches, 40-80 feet. Nova Scotia southward March, April, 

 crooked and spreading. to North Carolina 



and Tenn. 



Bark: dark, reddish brown; irregularly furrowed; when young, greenish 

 grey. Leaves: simple; alternate; broadly ovate: with short-pointed apex and 



