DEVELOPMENT OF PLANTS 



401 



the winter, these aments are quite erect but as the flowering stage 

 approaches they become pendulous, the larger bracts protecting 

 the sporophylls, like the shingles on a roof (Fig. 298, A). 

 These bracts, being hygroscopic, remain closed during wet weather 

 but on dry days they curve back, each bract forming a shelf 





FIG. 299. 



FIG. 300. 



FIG. 299. The beech family, order Fagales : inflorescence of oak (Quer- 

 cus) s } staminate ament; p, pistillate inflorescence. B, staminate flower 

 surrounded by a perianth of slightly united bracts. C, pistillate flowers 

 with numerous bracts surrounding base of ovary. D, section of flower, 

 the pistil being composed of three carpels and the inner bracts adnate to 

 the ovary. E, fruit of oak, the cup consisting of the modified outer bracts 

 shown in C and D and the nut has developed from the ovary and one of 

 .ts ovules. 



FIG. 300. Flower and fruit of the beech (Fagus), order Fagales: A, 

 pistillate inflorescence, the three-lobed stigmas projecting beyond the 

 bracts. B, section of the inflorescence pr, inner bracts or perianth sur- 

 rounded by an outer spiny set. C, the fruit, the outer bracts of B have 

 become hard and spiny and are splitting into four valves, exposing the 

 three-angled nuts. 

 7.7 



