72 CHINESE. ECONOMIC TREES 



first. ' Buds conspicuous, large, sometimes 2.5 cm. long, acute, covered 

 with chestnut-brown scales. Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, acuminate, 

 deeply cordate and oblique at the base, 8-15 cm. long, unequally serrate, 

 dark green above, pale green and pubescent below, veins 15-20 pairs, 

 impressed above. Fruit 8-15 cm. long, with broadly ovate, remotely 

 serrate bracts, lobed at the inner margin, the lobes often large (1/3 the 

 length of the bract), embracing the basal portion of the nutlet. 

 N. E. Asia. China, Korea, Manchuria and Japan. 



CORYLUS 



Shrubs or tree?. Leaves deciduous, alternate, petioled, serrate, 

 pinnately veined, stipulate. Flowers monoecious, apetalous, precocious, 

 {flowering before the leaves). Staminate in cylindrical, pendulous, terminal 

 or lateral catkins, solitary or several together, the catkins composed of 

 numerous closely imbricated scales, each bearing 4 bifid stamens and 2 

 adnate bracteoles. Pistillate flowers from lateral scaly buds which develop 

 into short leafy branchlets, the flowers and fruit being terminal. Pistillate 

 flowers with 2 red, protruding styles; ovary 2 celled, subtended at the base 

 by 2 laciniate bracteoles. Fruit single or in clusters, a 1-seeded nut sur- 

 rounded by a leafy involucre variously lobed or cut. Seeds exalbuminous. 



About 20 species, 5 or 6 of which are ascribed to China. Corylus 

 yields the hazelnut of commerce and several species are cultivated in 

 Europe and America for their fruits. The nut is rounded or oval, 

 enclosed in a leafy involucre which is tubular, variously cut and lobed 

 and open at the summit. The seeds should be sown in the autumn or 

 stratified until spring. 



The only arborescent Chinese species is: — 

 Corylus chinensis Franchet. 



Tree 35 m. tall with rounded top. Branches horizontal and spreading. 

 Young shoots tomentose. Leaves large, 12 cm. long, broadly ovate to 

 ovate-oblong, doubly serrate, acuminate, slightly cordate and very oblique 

 at the base,. glabrous above and pubescent below and setulose along the 

 veins; petiole tomentosej 6-25 mm. long. Fruit 4-6 in a cluster, variable 

 in size; involucre striate, constricted above the nut, more or less furcate, 

 recurved, finely pubescent. 



W. China: Yunnan, Szechuan and Hupeh. 



