OAK FAMILY. 307 



is another species resembling the Pig-nut, having small thin-shelled nuts, 

 the kernels of which are intensely bitter. 



ORDER LXYIL CUPULTFERJE. (OAK FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs with alternate simple penni-nerved leaves, deciduous stipules and mono3- 

 cious flowers ; the staminate ones in cylindrical (capitate-clustered in the Beech), aments ; 

 the pistillate solitary or clustered, furnished with an involucre which forms a kind of cup 

 (cupule) to the 1-celled 1-seeded indehiscent nut. Ovary 2-7-celled with 1 2 ovules in 

 each cell ; all the cells and ovules but one disappearing in the/ru#. Calyx-tube adherent 

 to the ovary, the minute calyx-teeth crowning its summit. Seed without albumen, fllled by 

 the embryo, the cotyledons thick and fleshy. 



* Fertile flowers scattered or few in a cluster. 

 Involucre 1-flowered, of many little scales, forming a cup around the 



base of the hard, rounded nut or acorn. 1. QUKRCTTS. 



Involucre 2-3-flowered, forming a prickly bur, enclosing 1-3 nuts 



and splitting into 4 thick valves. 2. CASTANEA. 



Involucre 2-flowered, prickly, 4-valved, containing 2 sharply tri- 

 angular nuts. Sterile flowers in small head-like clusters. 3. FAGUS. 

 Involucre 1- 2-flowered becoming a leafy cup, much enlarged and 

 cut or torn at the apex, longer than the bony nut. 4. CORYLTJS. 



** Fertile flowers clustered in a kind of ament. 



Involucre an open 3-lobed leaf, 2-flowered. Fruit a small ovoid nut. 5. CARPINUS. 

 Involucre a bladdery bag, 1-flowered, the whole catkin in fruit ap- 

 . pearing like a hop. Fruit small and seed-like. 6. OSTRYA. 



]. QUER'CUS, L. OAK 



[The ancient classical name.] 



STAMINATE FL. Aments slender, pendulous, without bracts. Calyx 

 6-8- (mostly 5-) parted. Stamens 5 - 12 ; anthers 2-celled. PISTILLATE 

 FL. scattered or clustered. Involucre 1-flowered, formed of minute 

 bracts, and scales, imbricated in many series, and coalesced into a cup, 

 and becoming woody or bark -like. Calyx adherent to the ovary, the 

 limb 6-toothed. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules in pairs in the cells, collateral, 

 suspended ; stigmas as many as the cells of the ovary. Nut (or Acorn] 

 by abortion 1-seeded, ovoid or oblong, mucronate, coriaceously woody, 

 embraced and more or less included by the indurated cup-like involucre. 

 Seed pendulous ; testa membranaceous, thin ; cotyledons plano-convex, 

 thick and fleshy. Mostly trees with greenish or yellowish flowers, the 

 pistillate ones quite inconspicuous ; all appearing in May, and the fruit 

 generally mature in October. In a portion of our species the acorns are 

 biennial, i. e., 2 years in coming to maturity. This peculiarity serves 

 to divide them into 2 sections which are subdivided into groups distin- 

 guished by the outline of the leaves. 



\ ]. Fruit annual (ripening in the fall after flowering) ; clusters mostly 

 peduncled : leaves not bristly-pointed or toothed. 



* WHITE OAK GROUP. Leaves obtusely sinuate or pinnatifld-lobed, all 

 pale, whitish or grayish-downy underneath. 



