M8 MONOECIA— POLYANDRIA. Quercus. 



Root woody. Stems branched, herbaceous, angular, smooth, leafy, 

 many-flowered, 1 to 2 feet high. Leaves pinnate, of several 

 pairs of rounded, neatly serrated, veiny leaflets, with an odd one, 

 all of a deep, somewhat glaucous, green, smooth, but not shi- 

 ning. Stipulas joined to the base of the footstalks in pairs, 

 sharply cut. Spikes, or heads, globose ; of many fertile j^ow^ers 

 in the upper part, which is remarkable ; and a smaller number 

 of barren ones below, whose crimson stamens resemble elegant 

 silk tassels. Nut quadrangular, wrinkled. 



The leaves taste and smell like Cucumber, and give that flavour 

 to salads, for which purpose this plant is very generally culti- 

 vated. 



442. QUERCUS. Oak. 



Linn. Gen. 495. Juss.4\0. Fl.Br. ]025. Tourn. t. 349. Lam. 

 t. 779. Gartn. t. 37. 



Nat. Ord. Amentacea;. Linn. 50. Juss. 99. Four follow- 

 ing genera the same. 



Ban: jl. in a loose catkm, deciduous. Cal. a scale of 1 

 leaf, in 4, 5, or more, deep, often divided, segments. 

 Cor. none. Filam. several, about 8 or more, short, awl- 

 shaped. Ajith. roundish, of 2 channelled lobes. 



Fert. Jl. separate. Cal. double, both permanent ; outer 

 one inferior, hemispherical, coriaceous, single-flowered, 

 entire, much enlarged in the fruit, and externally scaly, 

 or tuberculated ; inner superior, of 1 leaf, in 6 minute, 

 deep, sharp, downy segments, closely surrounding the 

 base of the style. Cor. none. G^-rm. 1, below the inner 

 calyx, globose, of 3 cells, with rudiments of 2 seeds in 

 each. Style solitary, short, conical. Stigm. 3, obtuse, re- 

 curved. Ntit solitary, oval, coriaceous, not bursting, of 

 1 cell, attached by a broad scar to the inside of the outer 

 calyx. Kernel solitary, rarely 2, with large half-ovate co- 

 tyledons, without any separate albumen; emhryo at the 

 top of the seed. 



Large trees, with simple, alternate, deciduous or evergreen, 

 leaves, and small axillary ^ow^-r^,- the tsoood more or less 

 valuable in different species ; the bark useful for tanning. 



1. Q. Robur. Common British Oak. 



Leaves deciduous, oblong, wider towards the extremity; 

 their sinuses rather acute; lobes obtuse. Fruit-stalks 

 elongated. 



•t>^ 



Q. Robur. Linn. Sp. PL 1414, Fl. Suec. 340, a. Fl. Br. 1026. 



