450 CUPULIFER,E. (OAK FAMILY.) 



disappearing in the fruit. Calyx adherent to the ovary, the minute teeth 

 crowning its summit. Seed with no albumen, filled with the embryo : 

 cotyledons thick and fleshy, in many edible : radicle short, superior. Stip- 

 ules forming the bud-scales. Leaves usually conduplicate in the bud. 



Tribe I. Q,lTERCINE.flE. Sterile flowers with a distinct 4-7-lobed calyx, including 

 6-20 stamens : filaments slender, free, exserted : anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers one or 

 few enclosed in a cupule consisting of bracts variously consolidated. Ovary imperfectly 

 3 - 7-celled, crowned with 3-8 (mostly 6) calyx-teeth, forming a nut (gland), in fruit 

 surrounded or enclosed by the indurated scaly or prickly cupule. 



* Sterile flowers in slender catkins. 



1. Q,uercus. Cupule 1-flowered, scaly, and entire : nut hard and terete. 



2. Castanea. Cupule 2 - 4-flowered, forming a prickly hard bur, 2-4-valved when ripe. 



* # Sterile flowers in a small head. 



3. Fagua. Cupule 2-flowered, 4-valved, containing 2 sharply triangular nuts. 



Tribe II. CARPIJVEX. Sterile flowers destitute of true calyx, consisting of several 

 stamens included under and more or less adnate to a bract : filaments short : anthers 1- 

 celled. Fertile flowers in a short spike, catkin, or head, two together under each fertile 

 bract, each with one or more bractlets, which form a foliaceous or membranaceous invo- 

 lucre to the nut. Ovary imperfectly 2-celled, 2-ovuled. Seed-coat single. 



* Bract of staminate flower furnished with a pair of bractlets inside. 



4. Corylus. Involucre enclosing the large bony nut, leafy -coriaceous. 



* # Bract of staminate flower simple : nut small, achenium-like. 

 5- Ostrya. Each ovary and nut included in a bladdery and closed bag. 

 6. Cn r pin us. Each nut subtended by an enlarged leafy bractlet. 



1. QUERCUS, L. Oak. 



Sterile flowers in slender and naked catkins : bracts caducous : calyx 2-8- 

 parted or lobed : stamens 5- 12 : anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers scattered or 

 somewhat clustered, consisting of a nearly 3-celled and 6-ovuled ovary, with a 

 3-lobed stigma, enclosed by a scaly bud-like involucre which becomes an indu- 

 rated cup (cupule) around the base of the rounded nut or acorn. Cotyledons 

 remaining underground in germination : radicle very short, included. — Flowers 

 greenish or yellowish. Sterile catkins single or often several from the same 

 lateral scaly bud, filiform and hanging in all our species. (The classical Latin 

 name.) All flower in spring, and shed their nuts in October. 

 § 1. Axsual-fruited ; i. e. acorns perfected in the autumn of the first year, borne 

 therefore on the wood of the season, usually in the axil of the leaves, and often 

 raised on a peduncle ; the kernel commonly sweet-tasted : lobes or teeth of the 

 leaves if any not bristle-pointed : abortive ovules persistent wider the seed: sterile 

 flowers mostly 4 - d-parted and 8-androus. 



♦ White Oaks. Leaves lyrate or sinuate-pi nnatifid, pale beneath. 

 1. Q. &lba, L. (White Oak.) Mature leaves smooth, pale or glaucous 

 underneath, bright green above, obovate-oblong, obliquely cut into 3-9 oblong or 

 linear and obtuse mostly entire lobes ; cup hemispherical-saucer-shaped, rough or 

 tubercled'at maturity, nak<<1, much shorter than the ovoid or oblong acorn. — Rich 

 woods : common. — A valuable large tree. Lobes of the leaves short and broad 

 3 - 5, or 5 - 9 deep and narrow. Acorn about 1 ' long ; kernel edible. 



