WILLOW FAMILY 451 



slender, exserted filaments ; carpellate flowers 2 — 4 together within 

 a 4-lobed, prickly capsule ; slipnas 3 ; nut 3-cornered, enclosed 

 in the enlarged hardened cupula. (Name' the Classical Latin 

 name of the tree.) 



I. F. sylvdtica (Common Beech). — A large and beautiful tree 

 with thin, smooth, olive-grey bark; long,' pointed, chestnut- 

 brown iz^A; glossy, ovate leaves, plaited parallel to the pinnate 

 veins in the bud, silky when young. — Woods on dry soil, chiefly 

 in the south.— Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



fAgus sylvAtica iCommon DcCch). 



Ord. LXXVI. S.\licine.e. — ^VILLo\v Family 



A small Order of trees and shrubs of very obscure relationships, 

 occurring mostly in the Arctic and North Temperate zone, the 

 more northern forms being dwarf and shrubby. They have scat- 

 tered, simple, stipulate, deciduous leaves; dicecious flowers in 

 catkins, commonly appearing before the leaves ; stamens 2 — 30 ; 

 ovary i-chambered ; styles 2 ; ovules numerous ; jruil a 2-valved, 

 many-seeded capsule ; seeds covered with a- tuft of silky hairs. 

 The wood of Poplars and Willow grows in general so quickly that 

 it is soft and of little value as timber ; but it is used for cricket- 

 bats, charcoal, and paper-pulp. The flexible shoots of certain 

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