204 COMMON CANADIAN WILD PLANTS. 



bony, and covered with white wax. Sandy soil near tne 

 coast, Atl. Prov. 



. COMPTO'NIA, Solander. SWEET-FERN. 



C. asplenifo'lla, Ait. (Myrica asplenifolia, Endl., in 

 Macoun's Catalogue.) Leaves linear-lanceolate in outline , 

 deeply piunatifid, the lobes numerous and rounded. Dry 

 soil ; especially in Pine barrens. 



ORDER LXXXVHI. CUPULIF'ER^. (OAK FAMILY.) 



Shrubs or trees, with alternate simple leaves, deciduous 

 stipules, and monoecious flowers. Sterile flowers in catkins 

 (but in Beech in small heads) ; the fertile ones solitary or 

 clustered, and furnished with an involucre which forms a 

 scaly cup or a bur surrounding the nut. 



Synopsis of tbe Genera. 



1. Quer'cns. Sterile flowers with a calyx including few or several 



stamens with slender filaments. Fertile flowers scattered or some- 

 what clustered, each in a scaly involucre or cupule. Nut (acorn) 

 rounded, the base enclosed by the cupule. (Part I., sec. 71.) 



2. Castu'nea. Sterile flowers in long slender catkins. Calyx G-parted. 



Fertile flowers usually 3 in each involucre, the latter prickly, 

 forming a bur. Calyx 6-lobed. Stigmas bristle-shaped. Nuts 

 enclosed (mostly 2 or 3 together) in the prickly 4-valved involucre, 

 flattened when there are more than one. 



3. Fag us. Sterile flowers iu a small head on drooping peduncles. 



Calyx bell-shaped. Fertile flowers in pairs in the involucre, 

 which consists of awl-shaped bractlets grown together at the 

 bases. Calyx-lobes awl-shaped. Nuts 3-angled, generally in pairs 

 in the bur-like 4-valved cupule. Bark close, smooth and light gray. 



4. t'or'.vl us. Sterile flowers In drooping catkins. No calyx. Stamens 



8(withl-celled anthers), and 2 small bractlets under each bract. 

 Fertile flowers in a small scaly head ; 1 ovary, surmounted by 2 

 long red stigmas, under each scale, and accompanied by a pair of 

 bractlets which, in fruit, enlarge and form a leaf -like or tubular 

 fringed or toothed involucre closely enveloping each nut. Sterile 

 catkins from the axils of the previous year. Fertile flowers 

 terminating the new shoots. 



5. Os'trya. Sterile flowers in drooping catkins. Calyx wanting. 



Stamens several under each bract, but not accompanied by bract- 

 lets. Fertile flowers in short catkins, 2 under each bract, eacia 



