FAGACEAE. 

 i. FAGUS L. Sp. PL 997. 1753. 



Trees, with smooth light gray bark, and serrate straight-veined leaves. Flowers appear- 

 ing with the leaves, the staminate in slender-pcduncled pendulous globose heads, the pistillate 

 about 2 together in short-peduncled subulate-bracted involucres in the upper axils. Stamin- 

 ate flowers yellowish -green, subtended by deciduous bracts, consisting of a campanulate 

 4-8-lobed calyx, and 8-16 stamens with filiform filaments. Pistillate flowers with a 6-lobed peri- 

 anth adnate to a 3-celled ovary; ovules 2 in each cavity, usually I only of each ovary maturing; 

 styles 3, filiform. Nut coriaceous, sharply 3-angled, enclosed in the 4-valved bur. [Name 

 from the Greek, to eat, referring to the esculent nuts.] 



About 4 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Only the follo%ving is native in North 

 America. 



i. Fagus Americana Sweet. American Beech. (Fig. 1225.) 



Fagus Americana \latif olia~\ Muench. Hausv. 5: 



162. 1770. 



Fagus Americana Sweet, Hort. Brit. 370. 1826. 

 Fagus ferruginea Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 362. 1789. 



A large forest tree, with maximum height of 

 about 120, and a trunk diameter of 4^, the 

 lower branches spreading. Leaves ovate or 

 ovate-oblong, firm, acuminate at the apex, ob- 

 tuse or narrowed at the base, 2 / -4 / ^ / long, i'- 

 $' wide, densely silky when young, glabrous or 

 nearly so when mature, green on both sides, not 

 shining, rather coarsely serrate; petioles 2 // -6 // 

 long; heads of staminate flowers 6 // -o/ / in dia- 

 meter, hanging on peduncles I'-s' long; bur 

 6 // -io // high, densely tomentose, its soft 

 prickles recurved or spreading; nut pubescent, 

 or at length nearly glabrous, brown; seed 

 sweet. 



In rich soil, Nova Scotia to Ontario and Wiscon- 

 sin, south to Florida and Texas. Wood hard, 

 strong, tough, close-grained; color light or dark 

 red; weight 43 Ibs. per cubic foot. April-May. 

 Nuts ripe Sept. -Oct. Leaves of seedlings and 

 young shoots are sometimes pinnatifid. 



2. CASTANEA Adans. Fatn. PL 2: 375. 1763. 



Trees or shrubs, with serrate straight-veined leaves, their teeth sharply acuminate. 

 Flowers appearing after the leaves, the staminate in erect or spreading narrowly cylindric 

 interrupted axillary yellowish aments, several in the axil of each bract, the bracts fugacious, 

 the pistillate borne in prickly involucres at the bases of the staminate aments or in separate 

 axils. Staminate flowers 2-bracteolate, consisting of a mostly 6-lobed campanulate perianth 

 and numerous stamens, sometimes, also with an abortive ovary; filaments filiform, long ex- 

 serted. Pistillate flowers 2-5 (commonly 3) in each involucre, consisting of an urn-shaped 

 6-lobed perianth adnate to the mostly 6-celled ovary, and usually with 4-1 2 abortive stamens; 

 ovules 2 in each cavity, i ovule only of each ovary usually maturing; styles as mauy as the 

 cavities of the ovary, slender, exserted; stigmas minute. Pistillate involucre enlarging and 

 becoming a globose mostly 4-valved very prickly bur in fruit, enclosing i-several nuts. Nut 

 rounded or plano-convex, i-seeded, the shell coriaceous. Seed large, sweet. Style mostly 

 persistent. [Name Greek, from a city in Thessaly.] 



Four or five species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Besides the following, another occurs 

 in Jhe southeastern United States. 



Leaves green on both sides; nuts usually 2-5 in each involucre; large tree. i. C. dentata. 



Leaves densely white -tomentose beneath; nut usually solitary; shrub or small tree. 2. C. pumila. 



