FABA. See Vicia. 



FABIAN A (after Francisco Fabiano, Spanish bota- 

 nist). Solan&cew. This group is a series of surprises. 

 It contains 16 species of heath-like shrubs from South 

 America. They are dwarf, erect, much branched, and E. 

 imbricata has Ivs. suggesting an arborvitae, being scale- 

 like, overlapping, and densely crowded. The flowers 

 resemble a heath in size and profusion, and their cul- 

 ture is the same as Erica. They belong to the same 

 family with the potato. The fls. are club- or funnel- 

 shaped, of 5 semi-cylindrical portions grown together 

 at the edges and crowned by a limb of 5 short, rounded, 

 spreading lobes. At present it seems to be cult, only in 

 S. Calif, and the South. Abroad it is cult, under glass 

 in winter and put outdoors in summer. 



imbricata, Ruiz & Pav. Height 3 ft. : Ivs. scale-like, 

 imbricated : fls. sessile, white. Spring. Peru. B.R. 

 25:59. 



FAGfiLIA (after Caspar Fagelius). Legutmndsce. A 

 fast-growing, twining subshrub from S. Africa, covered 

 with clammy hairs, and bearing all summer axillary ra- 

 cemes of pea-like fls. which are yellow, the keel tipped 

 violet. Cult, outdoors in S. Calif, and abroad under 

 glass. The plant is allied to Cajanus, but is a genus 

 by itself, chiefly because its seeds are strophioled, pod 

 swollen, not flattened, and the 2 upper calyx lobes 

 nearly distinct. 



bitumindsa, DC. Leaflets 3. B.R. 3:261, as Glycine, 

 showing fls. also veined with red. 



FAGOPtHUM ( beech wheat, from the likeness of the 

 fruit to a beech-nut). Polygondcece. Probably only two 

 species of Eu. and N. Asia. Quick-growing annuals, 

 with alternate deltoid or hastate Ivs., small honey- 

 scented fls. in racemes or panicles, 5-parted calyx, 8 

 stamens, 1-loculed ovary ripening into a floury, 3-an- 

 gled akene. 



esculentum, Mcench. BUCKWHEAT (which see). Fig. 

 276, p. 186. Lvs. large and broad, long-petioled : fls. 

 white, in panicled or corymbose racemes : akene or 

 grain with regular angles. 



803. Fagus ferruginea (X>s). 



Tataricum, Gaertn. INDIA WHEAT. BUCKWHEAT 

 (which see). More slender: Ivs. smaller and hastate or 

 arrow-shaped, shorter-petioled : fls. greenish or yellow- 

 ish, in small, simple racemes akene with wavy or 



notched angles, 

 poor soil. 



Useful in short-season climates 



L. H. B. 



and on 



FAGUS (ancient Latin name). Cupnliferce, tribe Fa- 

 gdcete. BEECH. Tall, deciduous, hardy trees, of noble, 

 symmetrical habit, with smooth, light gray bark and 

 clean dark green foliage, which is rarely attacked by in- 

 sects or fungi. They are among the most ornamental 

 and beautiful trees for park planting, and attractive at 

 every season, especially in spring, with the young foliage 

 of a tender, delicate green, and the graceful, drooping 

 heads of the staminate fls. The American and the Euro- 

 pean species are much alike, but the first has the bark of a 

 lighter color, the head is broader and more roundish, 

 and the Ivs. less shining, but turning clear yellow in 

 fall, while the latter has a more ovate head and shining 

 foliage, which turns reddish brown in fall and remains 

 on the branches almost through the whole winter. It is 

 sometimes used for tall hedges. In Europe the Beech 

 is a very important forest tree, and the hard and very 

 close-grained wood is largely used in the manufacture 

 of different articles and for fuel ; but it is not very dur- 

 able in the soil. The sweet nuts are edible, and in 

 Europe an oil is pressed from them, used for cooking 

 and other purposes. The Beech prefers dryish situations, 

 and grows best in sandy loam and in limestone soil. 

 Prop, by seeds sown in fall where there is no danger of 

 them being eaten by mice, or dried after gathering and 

 kept mixed with dry sand until spring. The young 

 plants should be transplanted every second or third 

 year; otherwise they make long tap-roots, and cannot 

 always be transplanted successfully. The varieties are 

 grafted on seedling stock, usually in the greenhouse in 

 early spring ; grafting in the open usually gives not 

 very satisfactory results. Five species occur in the 

 cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, all large, de- 

 ciduous trees, with alternate, distichous, dentate or 

 nearly entire Ivs. : fls. monoscious, with the Ivs. ; stami- 

 nate in slender-peduncled, pendulous heads appearing 

 at the base of the young shoots ; perianth 5-7-lobed; 

 stamens 8-13; pistillate with 3 styles, usually two in an 

 axillary peduncled involucre : fr. a brown, ovate, triau- 

 gled nut, 1 or 2 in a prickly, dehiscent involucre. The 

 species of the southern hemisphere, often included un- 

 der Fagus (as F. betuloides and others), form the ge- 

 nus Nothofagus, which see. 



ferrugfnea, Ait. (F. Americana, Sweet. F. atropu- 

 nicea, Sudw.). AMERICAN BEECH. Figs. 803, 804. Tree, 

 to 80 ft., rarely 120ft.: Ivs. ovate-oblong, acuminate, 

 coarsely serrate, silky beneath when young, with 9-14 

 pairs of veins, dark bluish green above, light yellowish 

 green beneath, 2 %-5 in. long : involucre covered with 

 slender, straight or recurved prickles, % in. high. E. 

 N. Amer., west to Wis. and Texas. S.S. 9:444. Em. 

 182. G.F 8:125. A. G. 12:711. Var. latifdlia, Loud., 

 with broader and larger, strongly toothed Ivs. 



sylvatica, Linn. EUROPEAN BEECH. Fig. 804. 

 Tree, to 80 ft., or rarely 100 ft.: Ivs. ovate or 

 elliptic, remotely denticulate, silky beneath and 

 ciliate wnen young, with 5-9 pairs of veins, dark 

 green and glossy above, pale beneath, 2-4 in. 

 long : involucre with mostly upright prickles, about 

 1 in. high. M. and S. Europe to Caucasus. Fig. 804 

 contrasts the Ivs. of the American and European spe- 

 cies. A great number of varieties are in cultivation, 

 of which the following are the most remarkable: Var. 

 heterophylla, Loud. (var. aspleni folia, Lodd.). Lvs. 

 deeply cut, often almost to the midrib, into narrow 

 lobes. A very graceful variety, forming a dense 

 and low, shrubby tree. Mn. l,p. 61. P.G. 3:163. Var. 

 pe~ndula, Lodd. With long, pendulous branches, the 

 larger limbs mostly horizontally spreading. Gn. 55, p. 

 267. G.F. 1:32. Var. purpurea, Ait. (var. atropurpurca, 

 Hort. ). Fig. 805. Lvs. purple. A form with very dark 

 purple Ivs. and of compact habit is var. purpurea Eiv- 

 ersi, Hort. There are other forms, differing in the 



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