338 FAGACEAE (BEECH FAMILY) 



1. F. grandifblia Ehrh. Large tree ; leaves oblong-ovate, mostly cuneate at 

 base, taper-pointed, distinctly and often coarsely toothed, light green ; petioles 

 and midrib soon nearly naked ; prickles of the grayish or yellowish fruit subu- 

 late-filiform, elongated, recurved or spreading. (F. ferruginea Ait. ; F. ameri- 

 cana Sweet.) Rich uplands, N. B. to w. Ont., s. to*Va., Mich, and Minn. 



Var. caroliniana (Loud.) Fernald & Rehder. Leaves ovate to short-obo- 

 vate, darker green, mostly rounded or subcordate at base and often less coarsely 

 toothed; prickles of the rufescent fruit short, subulate. Coastal plain, N. J. 

 to Fla. and Miss. ; also from O. to Mo. and Tex. 



2. CASTANEA [Tourn.] Hill. CHESTNUT 



Sterile flowers interruptedly clustered in long and naked cylindrical catkins ; 

 calyx mostly 6-parted ; stamens 8-20 ; filaments slender ; anthers 2-celled. 

 Fertile flowers usually 3 together in an ovoid scaly prickly involucre ; calyx 

 with a 6-lobed border crowning the 3-7-celled 6-14-ovuled ovary ; abortive sta- 

 mens 5-12 ; styles linear, exserted, as many as the cells of the ovary ; stigmas 

 small. Nuts coriaceous, inclosed usually 2-3 together or solitary in the 

 involucre. Cotyledons very thick, somewhat plaited, cohering, remaining 

 underground in germination. Leaves strongly straight-veined, undivided. 

 Flowers later than the leaves, cream-color ; the catkins axillary near the ends 

 of the branches, wholly sterile or the upper androgynous with the fertile flowers 

 at the base. (The classical name, from that of a town in Thessaly.) 



1. C. dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. (CHESTNUT.; A large tree ; leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, pointed, serrate with coarse pointed teeth, acute at base, when mature 

 smooth and green both sides; nuts 2 or 3 (rarely even 7-9) in each involucre, 

 flattened on one or both sides, very sweet. (C. sativa, var. americana Sarg.) 

 Rocky woods and hillsides, s. Me. to Ont., and southw. 



2. C. purnila (L.) Mill. (CHINQUAPIN.) A spreading shrub or small tree; 

 leaves oblong, acute, serrate with pointed teeth, whitish-downy beneath; in- 

 volucres small, often spiked ; the ovoid pointed nut scarcely half as large as the 

 common chestnut, very sweet, solitary, not flattened. Dry woods and thickets, 

 N. J. to Ind., and southw. ; introd. northw. 



3. QUERCUS [Tourn.] L. OAK 



Sterile flowers in naked catkins ; bracts caducous ; calyx 2-8-parted or -lobed ; 

 stamens 3-12 ; anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers scattered or somewhat clus- 

 tered, consisting of a nearly 3-celled and 6-ovuled ovary, with a 3-lobed stigma, 

 inclosed by a scaly bud-like involucre which becomes an indurated cup (cupule) 

 around the base of the rounded nut or acorn. Cotyledons remaining underground 

 in germination ; radicle very short, included. Flowers greenish, yellowish, or 

 reddish. Sterile catkins single or often several from the same lateral scaly bud, 

 filiform and hanging in all our species. All the species inclined to hybridize 

 freely. (The classical Latin name.") 



1. Bark pale, often scaly ; leaves and their lobes or teeth obtuse (rarely with sharp teeth), never 

 bristle-pointed ; stamens 6-8 ; scales of the cup more or less woody and knobby at base : 

 stigmas sessile or nearly so ; abortive ovules at the base of the perfect sed ; inner surface 

 of shell of nut glabrous ; fruit maturing the first year ; kernel commonly sweetish. 

 LEIMDOBJLLANUS Endl. a. 



a. Leaves deciduous, sinuate-toothed or lobed &. 

 6. Leaves lyrate or sinuate-pinnatifid c. 



c. Mature leaves glabrous beneath 1. Q. alba. 



c. Mature leaves finely pubescent beneath d. 

 d. Scales of the cup naked, not awned. 



Fruit nearly sessile ; the fine-scaled saucer-shaped cup one 



third to half as high as the ovoid acorn . . . 2. Q. stellata. 



Fruit peduncled ; the coarse- scaled cup nearly covering the 



depressed-globose acorn 3. Q. lyrata. 



d. Upper scales of the cup long-awned 4. Q. macrocarpa. 



6. Leaves coarsely sinuate-toothed, but not lobed (except slightly in 



no. 5). CHESTNUT OAKS e. 

 3. Fruiting peduncle '2.5-6 cui. long, much exceeding the petioles . 5. Q. bicolor. 



