292 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



long ; fertile, rounded burrs, situated beneath the barren ; nut ovate, brown. 

 A low shrub, 1-3 feet high, in dry woods. April-May. 



Order LXXVIL CUPULIFERJE (Oak Family}. 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, with straight veins 

 and deciduous stipules. Flowers usually monoecious. Sterile 

 ones or both in aments. Calyx membranous and regular, or else 

 scale-like. Stamens 1-4 times as many as the calyx-lobes. Ovary 

 2-6-celled, with i or more ovules in a cell. Fruit a i- celled, 

 i-seeded nut or samara. 



f No calyx Betula. 

 Fruit winged \ 



[Calyx Alnus. 



I. Quercus. Barren flowers in loose, slender, nodding aments 

 calyx 6-8-parted ; stamens 5-12. Fertile flowers solitary or clustered 

 involucre or capsule clip-shaped, scaly ; ovary 3-celled, with 6 ovules 

 stigma 3-lobed. Nut i-celled, i-seeded. 



1. Q. ALBA (White Oak}. Leaves oblong or oblong-ovate, smooth, 

 paler, and glaucous beneath, light green above, deeply and smoothly 5-7- 

 lobed ; lobes oblong or oblong-linear, obtuse, nearly entire ; fruit peduncu- 

 late ; cup hemispherical, much shorter than the ovate acorn ; kernel sweetish, 

 edible. A large forest-tree. 



2. Q. BICOLOR (Swamp White Oak}. Leaves oblong-ovate, tapering 

 and entire at base, white-downy underneath, coarsely and minutely 8-12- 

 toothed, on short petioles ; teeth unequal, acutish ; fruit mostly in pairs, on 

 long peduncles ; cup hemispherical, scarcely half as long as the oblong-ovate 

 acorn ; kernel sweet. A tall tree, in swamps. May. 



3. Q. PRINOIDES (Dwarf Chestnut Oak). Shrubby ; leaves obovate, den 

 tate, with coarse and nearly equal teeth, downy beneath, on short petioles ; 

 fruit sessile, or on very short peduncles ; cup hemispherical ; acorn ovate ; 

 kernel sweet. A dwarf species, in dry, sandy soils. May. 



4. Q. RUBRA (Red Oak}. Leaves smooth, oblong, paler beneath, sinu- 

 ately 7-11 lobed ; lobes spreading, entire or dentate, acute, with narrow 

 sinuses between ; cup very flat and shallow, saucer-shaped, much shorter 

 than the oblong-ovate acorn. A tall tree, in forests. May. 



5. Q. COCCINEA (Scarlet Oak}. Leaves oblong or oval in outline, 



