SWEET-GALE FAMILY. 305 



Var. Amerie&na, American Chestnut : large tree in hilly woods, 

 fi'om Canada to Florida, distinguishable from the European only by leaves acute 

 at the base, and nuts sweeter and smaller. 



C. ptliuila. Chinquapin. Sandy dry soil chiefly S. & E. : shrub or 

 small tree ; with lance-oblong leaves whitish downy beneath, and very sweet 

 nut solitary in the involucre, therefore terete. 



3. FAGUS, BEECH. (Classical Latin name, from the Greek, alluding to 

 the nuts being good to eat.) Flowers appearing with the (straight-veined 

 and serrate) leaves, in spring. 



P. ferrugiuea, American Beech. Forest tree, commoner N., with fine- 

 grained wood, close and smooth light gray bark, and light horizontal spray ; 

 the leaves oblong-ovate and taper-pointed, distinctly toothed, thin, their silky 

 hairs early deciduous, the very straight veins all ending in the salient teeth. 



F. sylT^tica, European Beech, occasionally planted as a shade-tree, is 

 distinguished by broader and shorter, firmer, more hairy, and wavy-toothed 

 leaves, some of the main veins tending to the sinuses. 



4'. CORTLUS, HAZEL-NUT, FILBERT. (Classical Latin name.) 

 Shrubs, with flowers in early spring, preceding the rounded-heart-shaped, 

 doubly-serrate, at first downy leaves. Edible nuts ripe in autumn. 

 C. Avell&na, European H. or Filbert. Occasionally planted : 6° -10° 



high, with bristly shoots, and smoothish deeply-cleft involucre about the length 



of the (1' long) oval nut 



C. Americ^a, American H. Thickets : 4°-6° high, with more downy 



shoots, leaves, and involucre, the latter open down to the smaller globular nut 



in the form of a pair of broad cut-toothed leafy bracts. 



C. rostr^ta, Beaked H. Thickets and banks, mostly N. : 2° -5° high, 



with more ovate and scarcely heart-shaped leaves, the densely bristly involucre 



prolonged in a narrow curved tube much beyond the ovoid nut. 



6. bSTRTA, HOP-HORNBEAM. (The classical name.) Slender trees, 

 with very hard wood : flowers appearing with the (Birch-like) leaves, in 

 spring. 



O. Virginica, American H., Iron-wood or Lever-wood. Rich woods : 

 tree 30° - 50° high, with brownish rough bark, and oblong-ovate taper-pointed 

 sharply doubly serrate leaves downy beneath, the sacs of the fruit bristly at base. 



6. CARPIWUS, HORNBEAM, IRON- WOOD. (Ancient Latin name.) 

 Low trees or tall shrubs, with furrowed trunks and very hard wood, the close 

 gray bark and small leaves resembling those of the Beech ; flowers with the 

 leaves, in spring. 



C Americ^a, American H., also called Blue or Water Beech. 

 Banks of streams : 10° -20° high ; with ovate-oblong pointed doubly serrate 

 leaves, becoming smooth, and halberd-3-lobed bracts of the involucre. 



107. MYRICACE^, SWEET-GALE FAMILY. 



Shrubs, with resinous-dotted often fragrant simple leave.'!, and 

 moncecious or dioecious flowers, both kinds in short scaly catkins or 

 heads, and dei^titute of any proper calyx, the 1-seeded fruit a fleshy 

 little drupe or at length dry nut, commonly coated with wax. 



1. MYRICA. Flowers mostly dioecious, the catkins from lateral scaly buds : each 



flower under a scale-like bract and with a pair of bractlets ; the sterile of 

 2-8 stamens ; the fertile of an ovary bearing 2 slender stigmas and surround- 

 ed by a few little scales. 



2. COMPTONIA Flowers mostly monoecious, the sterile in cylindrical catkins; 



the fertile m globular bur-like heads. Ovary surrounded by long awl-shaped 

 scales which persist around the smooth little nuc. 



20 



