Trees of New York State 63 



FRUIT KEY TO THE SPECIES 



I. Fruit simple, arising from a single pistil 2 



1 . Fruit compound,* arising from several pistils or flowers 75 



i 2. Fruit drv 3 



'2. Fruit fleshy 43 



3. Fruit dehiscent 4 



3. Fruit iiidehiscent 22 



4. lYuit a bony nut with a dehiscent involucre or husk 5 



4. I'Yuit not a bony nut 12 



5. Involucre prickly 6 



5. Involucre not prickly 7 



6. Nut trigonous; burr stalked; spines simple Fagus grandifolia 171 



6. Nut ovoid, laterally compressed; burr sessile; spines branched 



Castanea dentata 1 73 

 7. Husk 4-valved to the base; valves rather thick and woody at maturity. . . .8 

 7. Husk 4-valved only to the middle or rarely to the base; valves thin and some- 

 what friable at maturity 11 



8. Fruit i-I inch in diameter Carya microcarpa 151 



8. Fruit 1-2^ inches in diameter 9 



9. Nut white or yellowish 10 



9. Nut brownish Carya alba 149 



10. Fruit globular or depressed; nut barely mucronate Carya ovata 145 



10. Fruit ovoid; nut usually strongly pointed at both ends 



Carya laciniosa 147 



1 1. Fruit pyriform to ovoid; shell thick Carya glabra 153 



1 1. Fruit ellipsoid; shell thin Carya cordiformis 155 



12. Fruit a legume 13 



1 2. Fruit a capsule 16 



13. Legume 12-18 inches long, twisted, reddish or purplish brown 



Gleditsia triacanthos 269 



13. Legume less than 11 inches long, not twisted 14 



14. Legume thick and woody; seeds about | of an inch long 



Gymnocladus dioica 267 



14. Legume thin and coriaceous; seeds less than \ of an inch long 15 



15. Seeds reniform, orange-brown with darker mottlings 



Robinia Pseudo-Acacia 273 



15. Seeds broadly ovate, chestnut-brown Cercis canadensis 271 



16. Fruit spiny; seeds without appendages Aesculus Hippocastanum 303 



16. Fruit not spiny; seeds with appendages 17 



1 7. Seeds comose 18 



1 7. Seeds winged 19 



18. Capsule subtended by persistent disk Populus species 353 



18. Capsule not subtended by persistent disk Salix species 352 



1 9. Capsule linear, subterete, 5 or more inches long Catalpa speciosa 339 



Catalpa bignonioides 337 



19. Capsule globose to oblong-ovoid, not over 2 inches long 20 



20. Capsule 2-celled, loculicidaUy dehiscent; seeds lace-winged 



Paulownia tomentosa 335 



20. Capsule 5-celled, septically dehiscent; seeds winged at the ends 21 



21. Capsule globose, about 3/16 of an inch long Kalmia latifolia 323 



21. Capsule oblong-ovoid, about ^ of an inch long. . . .Rhododendron maximum 321 



22. Fruit a samara 23 



22. Fruit a nut or dry leathery drupe 36 



* The interpretation of the structures which enter into the fruit is of necessity more 

 or less arbitrary. A compound fruit is here interpreted as one arising from several 

 pistils in the same flower or from a cluster of flowers which in fruit give rise to structures 

 which cohere or at least overlap. 



