542 



A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY 



[On. XIII 



ORDER 6. FAGALES : THE BIRCHES, ALDERS, AND HAZELS, 

 WITH THE BEECHES, OAKS, AND CHESTNUTS. About 700 

 species of important timber and nut trees of north temperate 

 regions, including the most valuable hardwood timbers, as 



the Coniferae include the 

 principal softwoods. They 

 have characteristic droop- 

 ing staminate catkins, with 

 solitary or few-clustered 

 pistillate flowers (Fig. 197). 

 Some have winged fruits 

 which are wind carried ; 

 but others produce large 

 nuts inclosed more or less 

 by bracts, such being the 

 character of the Chestnut 

 and the Acorn. 



ORDER 7. URTICALES: 

 THE ELMS, MULBERRIES, 

 FIGS, HEMPS, AND NETTLES. 

 About 1500 species of ap- 

 parently heterogeneous, 

 but really interrelated 

 FIG. 384. The Jack Fruit, Artocarpus trees, shrubs, and herbs, 



integrifolia; X !*&. (From Bailey.) 



separated flowers, pollinated in part by wind and in part 

 by insects, with fruits of various forms partly dissemi- 

 nated by wind and partly by animals. The Elms, having 

 early wind-pollinated flowers, are noted shade trees of 

 remarkable grace; the Mulberries, with multiple fleshy 

 fruits (Fig. 247), are best known as providing food, in 

 their leaves, for silkworms. Closely related are the val- 

 uable Bread Fruits and Jack Fruits of the tropics (Fig. 

 384). The Figs yield the familiar fruits, which are ripened, 

 hollowed receptacles with the ovaries inside (Fig. 248), a 



