198 rOi'ULAR FLOKA. 



85. OAK FAMILY. Order CUPULIFER^E. 



Trees or shrubs, -with alternate' and simple straight-veined leaves, deciduous stipules, and 

 monoecious flowers; tlie sterile flowers in slender catkins (or in head-like clusters in tlio 

 Beech) ; the fertile flowers suri-ounded with an iuvolucro which forms a cuji, bur, or ba" 

 around the nut. 



Fertile flowers scattered, or 2 or 3 together, their 



Involucre one-flowered, of many little scales, forming a cup around the base of the 



hard and roundish nut or acorn (Fig. 'Mo), ( Qiiei-(ii.<) Oak. 



Involucre containing 2 or 3 flowers, becoming a very prickly and closed bur enclos- 

 ing the nuts, and splitting into 4 thick pieces. 

 Nuts 1 to 3, roundish or flatfish, thni-shelled. Sterile catkins long, ( Castanen) Cuestxut. 

 Kuts 2, sharply 3-angIed. Sterile catkins like a head-like cluster, [Fnrjus) FiKecu. 



Involucre a leafy cup, lobed or torn at the end, longer than the bony nut, ( Curyhis) Hazel. 



Fertile flowers also collected in a kind of catkin. Nut small like an akene. 



Involucre an open 3-lobed leaf, 2-flowered, ( Carpimis) Hukxueam. 



Involucre a closed bladdery bag, one-flowered, the whole catkin making a fruit like 



a hop in general appearance, ( Ostrya) Hop-Hoknbeam. 



Oak. Quercus. 



* Acorn ripening the first year, therefore borne on shoots of the season : cups stalked, except iu 



No. 2 : kernel generally sweet-tasted. 



1. OVERCUP or Bur Oak. Leaves obovate, sinuate-pinnatifid, whitish-downy beneath; acorn 1' or 



li' long, in a deep cup with a mossy-fringed border. Q. macrocdrjM. 



2. Post Oak. Leaves oblong, pale and rough above, grajdsh-downy beneath, pinnatifid, with 5 to 7 



blunt lobes; cup saucer-shaped, much shorter than the acorn. Small tree. Q. vbtusiloba. 



3. White Oak. Leaves smooth when full grown, pale beneath, pinnatifid; the lobes 5 to 9, oblong or 



linear, entire; cup much shorter than the oVal or oblong acorn. Rich woods. Q. alba. 



4. Swamp Chestnut-Oak. Leaves obovate, whitish-downy beneath, coarsely and bluntly toothed 



or sinuate; cup thick, hemispherical, with stout or pointed scales; acorn oval, 1' long. Q. Prinus. 



5. Yellow Chestnut-Oak. Leaves lance-oblong, or oldong, acute, whitish, but scarcely downy 



beneath, rather sharply and evenly toothed ; cup thin, and acorn smaller than in No. 4. Rich 

 woods. Q- Castanea. 



6. Chinquapin Oak. Much like No. 4, but a mere shrub, 2° to 6° high, with a thin cup and a smaller 



acorn. Sandy, barren soil. Q- prinoides. 



* * Acorn ripening in the autumn of the second year; ripe fruit therefore on wood two years old, 



sessile : kernel bitter. 

 ^- Leaves entire or nearly so, narrow. 



7. Live Oak. Leaves thick, evergreen, hoary beneath, oblong, small. Sea-coast, S. Q. virens. 



8. Willow Oak. Leaves light green, smooth, lance-linear, tapering, 3' or 4' long. S. •& W- Q. Phellvs. 



9. Shingle or Laurel Oak. Leaves shining above, rather downy beueathj lance-oblong, thickish ; 



cup saucer-shaped ; acorn globular. Common S. & W. Cj. inihvich'-ia. 



