CUPULIFER^E. (OAK FAMILY.) 403 



Kernel is difficult of extraction from the thick and bony nut. A var. MAXI MX, 

 Nutt., bears fruit " as large as an apple," with an exceedingly thick husk. 



o. C. microcrpa, Nutt. (SMALL-FRUITED HICKORY.) Leaflets 5- 

 7, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, glandular underneath (not downy) ; catkins smooth , 

 fruit roundisJt-ocoid, with a thin husk : nut slightly 4-angled, the shell rather thin. 

 Moist woodlands, Penn. (N. England?) and south west ward. Fruit only % 

 in diameter, shaped like that of the last ; the foliage much as in the next. 



6. C, glabra, Torr. (PIG-NUT or BXOOM HICKORY.) Leaflets 5-7, 

 ovate-liutceolate, serrate, smooth or nearly so ; fruit pear-shaped or roundish-obovate t 

 thin, splitting about half-way down into 4 coriaceous valves; nut hard and 

 tough, who a sweetish or bitterish small kernel. (C. porcina, Nutt.) Wood- 

 lands; common. A large tree, with a close bark, very tough and valuable 

 wood, and exceedingly tough sprouts (used as hickory withes) : the fruit and nuts 

 of variable fon*i. Heart-wood dark-colored. 



* * # Seed intensely bitter : husk thin and so/? : bark smooth : buds little scaly. 



7. C. amara, Nutt. (BITTER-NUT or SWAMP HICKORY.) Leaflets 

 711, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth ; fruit globular, with ridged or promi- 

 nent seams opening half-way down ; nut inversely heart-shaped, its shell thin 

 and fragile. Wet woods ; common. A graceful tree ; the timber inferior to 

 the other Hickories. Nut-shell so fragile that it may be crushed with the hand ; 

 'he bitter kernel remarkably corrugated. 



ORDER 107. CUPULIFER^E. (OAK FAMILY.) 



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

 stipules, and monoecious flowers; the sterile in catkins (aments) (or capitate- 

 clustered in the Beech) ; the fertile solitary or clustered, furnished with an 

 involucre icldch forms a cup or covering to the l-celled 1-seeded nut. Ovary 

 2 - 7-celled, with 1-2 pendulous anatropous ovules in each cell ; but all 

 the cells and ovules except one disappearing in the fruit. Calyx adherent 

 to the ovary, the minute teeth crowning its summit. Seed with no albu- 

 men, filled with the embryo: cotyledons very thick and fleshy: radicle 

 short, superior. 



Synopsis. 



* Fertile flowers scattered or few in a cluster. 



1. QUERCUS. Involucre 1-flowered, of many imbricated small scales, forming a cup around 



the base of the hard and rounded nut. 



2. CASTANEA. Involucre 2 - 3-flowered, forming a prickly bur enclosing 1-3 coriaceous 



nuts, opening at length by 4 valves. 



3. FAG US. Involucre 2-flowered, rather prickly. 4-valved, enclosing 2 sharply triangular 



nuts. Sterile llowers in capitate clusters. 



4. CORYLUS. Involucre 1 - 2-flowered, formed of 2 - 3 confluent scales, which lecome kafy- 



coriaceous, much enlarged and cut or torn at the apex, enclosing a bony nut. 

 * * Fertile flowers clustered in a kind of ament. 



5. CARPIXTJS. Involucre a separate open leaf, 2-flowered. Fruit a small ovoid nut. 

 8. OSTRYA. Involucre a bladdery bag. 1-flowered, enclosing the seed-like nut. 



