APETAL^— CUPULIFER^ 107 



DICOTYLEDONS. 

 CUPULIFEE^ (Oak Family). 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves simple. Monoecious. Staminate 

 inflorescence usually a catkin. Flowers small, inconspicuous, 

 apetalous. Perianth small, green, or absent. Carpels two or 

 three (rarely four or six), syncarpous, inferior, usually with a two 

 or three-chambered ovary ; one or two ovules in each chamber. 

 Fruit one-seeded, indehiscent, often a nut. Seeds without 

 endosperm. 



Type: HAZEL {Corylus avelland). 



Vegetative Characters.; — Shrub : the main stem breaks 

 up into several larger branches a short distance above the 

 ground. The main root present in the seedling grows only for 

 a short time ; it gives off several lateral roots which run hori- 

 zontally close beneath the surface of the soil. These horizontal 

 roots (or the base of the stem) frequently produce slender 

 adventitious shoots — suckers — which grow vertically upwards. 

 These shoots, in turn, can produce adventitious roots of their 

 own at their bases, and subsequently may become disconnected 

 from the mother-plant by reason of the decay of the connect- 

 ing parts. Thus the Hazel may multiply by suckers (compare 

 Raspberry canes and Rose trees). 



Leaves alternate, arranged in two rows, or on vigorous 

 suckers often in three rows, with small stipules which soon fall ; 

 the margin is twice-serrate. It will be noted that in the bud- 

 condition the two halves of each leaf are folded together along 

 the mid-rib : the one half of the leaf is slightly larger than the 

 other and overlaps the latter in the bud. 



On the approach of winter the stem ceases to elongate, and 

 produces a terminal resting-bud. This resting-bud is clothed 

 externally by leaves whose stipules are developed into scales, 

 but which possess no lamina. Inasmuch as the leaves are 

 ranked into two rows, their stipules naturally are arranged into 

 two double rows. Consequently these bud-scales are arranged 

 in pairs on opposite sides of the stem, and each pair of scales 

 represents the two stipules of one leaf The lateral (vegetative) 



