CUPULIFEE^. 141 



Common in the hills, especially along streams. Feh.-Mar. The 

 staminate aments appear as early as Sept. of the year preceding 

 anthesis. 



17. CUPULIFER/E. Oak Family. 



Trees or shrubs with alternate and simple leaves and promptly 

 deciduous stipules. Flowers monoecious, apetalous, appearing with 

 the leaves in deciduous species. Staminate flowers in aments (cat- 

 kinsl; stamens 4 to 12 in the 4 to 6-parted calyx. Pistillate flowers 

 solitary or spicate; calyx adherent to the 3-celled 6-ovuled ovary, the. 

 minute teeth crowning the summit; ovary or ovaries surrounded by an 

 involucre which forms a cup furnished externally with scales or spines. 

 Fruit a 1-oelled 1-seeded nut or acorn, only one ovule maturing, the 

 remaining, ovules and the other two cells abortive. 



Involucre 1-flowered, becoming a scaly cup. . . . . .1. Queecus. 



Involucre 1 to 8-flowerea, becomlng"a spiny bur. . . . . . 2. uastanea. 



1. QUERCUS L. Oak. 



Trees, or sometimes low shrubs, with greenish or yellowish flowers. 

 Staminate aments slender and naked, pendulous (in one species erect), 

 one or several from a scaly bud of the previous season; bracts cadu- 

 cous; calyx 2 to 8-parted or lobed; stamens variable, 3 to 12. Pistil- 

 late flowers solitary or somewhat scattered, borne on shoots of the 

 season, consisting of an ovary with 3 (4 or 5) styles or sessile stigmas, 

 surrounded by a scaly involucre wliich becomes the woody cup of the 

 fruit. Seed with thick fleshy cotyledons; rudiments of the 5 remain- 

 ing ovules often discernible at the base or top of the nut. (Latin 

 name of thepak.) 



Staminate aments pendulous, borne below the pistillate; filaments not longer 

 than the anthers; siigmas dilated. 

 Bark nale, wood nearly white; stamens mostly 6 to 9; stigmas sessile or nearly 

 so; abortive ovules mostly basal. — White Oaks. 

 Acorns maturing the first year, the nut glabrous on the inner surface. 

 Trees; leases deeply or shallowly sinuate-pinnatifid, falling in the autumn, 

 their lol)es or teeth obtuse, rarely bristle-pointed. 

 Calyx-lobes ovate, acute; nut conical, elongated, 1 J4 to 2 in. long . . . 



1. Q. Iphaia. 

 Calyx-lobes laciniately cut. 



Nut oval or oblong, i to 1}^ in. long; leaves mostly i to 6,in. long. . . 



2. Q. Gari-yana. 

 Nut broadly oblong, 5i to IX in. long; leaves mostly 2 to 3 in. long. 



3. Q. Donglasii. 

 Shrub; leaves not lobed, persisting until after the appearance of those of 



the following year 4. Q. dumosa. 



Acorns maturing the second year, the nut tomentoseon the inner surface; 

 evergreen trees or shrubs; leaves oblong, entire, or splnose-dentate. 



5. Q. chrysolepis. 

 Bark dark, wood reddish; stamens 4 to 6; stigmas on long styles; inner surface 



of nut silky-tomentose; abortive ovules toward the top of the fruit. — 

 Black Oaks. 

 Acorns maturing the first year, ovate, elongated; leaves persisting until the 

 appearance of those of the following year in lHar. and Apr 



6. Q. agrifolia. 

 Acorns maturing the second year. 



Leaves mostly oblong, dentate or entire, persistent until tbe second sum- 

 mer or aut^umn; nut slender, tapering. . . . . 7. Q. WiMwenM. 



