LXX. CORYLA'CEai: i^A^GUS. 905 



Genus II. 



:f 



FAMOUS L. The Beech. Lin. Syst. Monoe'cia Polyandria. 



Identification. Lin. Hen., No. 1072. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 1(594. ; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 79. 



Synomjmes. According to Bauhin, the Fagus of the Romans, and the Oxua of the Greeks ; Castanea 



Tourn. 352. ; Hetre, Fr. ; Buche, Ger. ; Beuke, Dutch ; Bog, Dan. ; Bok, Swed. ; Buk, Russ. 



and Pol. ; Faggio, Ital. ; Haya, Span. ; Faya, Port. 

 Derivation. From phago, to eat ; because the nuts were used as food in the early ages. 



Gen. Char., ^c. Male flowers in .stalked drooping heads or capitate catkins, 

 3 or 4 in each, attended by minute decidiioii.s bracteas. Each flower 

 consists of a 5 6-cleft bell-shaped calyx, and 8 12 stamens, that arise from 

 the bottom of the calyx, and extend beyond its mouth. Female flowers 

 borne 2 6 together, within a pitcher-shaped indistinctly 4-lobed involucre, 

 constituted of numerous unequal bracteal scales, and interior scales, grown 

 together. Each flower consists of a calyx, lengthened into a laciniate limb, 

 and investing the ovary. Fruit nuts, (G. Don.) 



Leaves simjjle, alternate, stipulate, deciduous, rarely evergreen ; entire or 

 serrated, feather-veined, plaited in the bud. Flowers whitish yellow. Fruit 

 covered with a hairy calyx. Trees large, deciduous, handsome, and some 

 evergreen shrubs ; natives of the colder parts of Europe, North and South 

 America, and Australia. 



A. Cupule muricafe, capsuliform. Ovaries included. Young leaves plicate. 

 Natives of Europe, and of North and South America. 



a. Species in Cultivation in British Gardens. 



t 1. F. sylva'tica L. The Wood, or common. Beech. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. Pl 1416. ; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 152 ; Hook. Br. Fl., ed. 3. p. 411. 



Synunynies. Castanea Fagus Scop. Cam. No. 1188. ; Fagus Baiih. Pin. 4111. F. sylv(?stris Micfix. N. 



A7ner.3. t. 107. Oxya, Greek; Fagus, Lat. ; Hetre conimun, Fr.; gemeine Buche, Ger.; Rood- 



beuke, Dutch. 

 Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1846. ; N. Du Ham., t. 24. ; the plate of this tree in Arb. Brit. 1st edit. 



vol. viii. and out fig. 1696. 



Spec. Char., Si~c. Leaves ovate, glabrous, obsoletely dentate ; ciliate on their 

 margins. (JVilld.) A large deciduous tree. Various parts of Europe ; 

 and one variety in North America. Height 60 ft. to 100 ft. Flowers 

 brownish ; May. Nut brown ; ripe in October. 



Varieties. 



* F. 5. 2 purpiirea Ait. Hort. Kew. v. p. 297. F. s. 2 atro-rubens Du , 

 Roi ; Hetre noir, Fr. ; the purple Beech. The buds and young 

 shoots are of a rose colour : the leaves, when half-developed, of a 

 cherry red ; and, when fully matured, at midsummer, of so dark 

 a purple as to appear almost black. The bark, not only of the 

 young shoots, but even of the old wood and of the trunk of the 

 tree, partakes strongly of the same dark colour as the leaves, 



Y F. 5. 3 cupren Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836. The copper-coloured Beech. 

 A sub-variety of F. s. purpurea. Young shoots and leaves of a paler 

 colour than those of the purple beech. It makes a splendid ap- 

 pearance in the sunshine, and when the leaves are gently ruffled with 

 the wind ; but, in a state of repose, and on a dark cloudy day, it can 

 hardly be distinguished from the common green-leaved beech. 



"S? F. s. 4f foliis variegdfis Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836. The leaves variegated 

 with white and yellow, interspersed with some streaks of red and 

 purple. This variety is handsome in spring, when the leaves first 

 make their appearance ; but, in the course of tlie summer, their 

 variegation is in a great measure lost, and the leaves assume a dirt 



