BEECH FAMILY 



A Stiimlnate and a Pistillali 

 Flower of the Beech ; en 

 hu-ged. 



becoming brown on young trees often cling to the liranches all win- 

 ter. When the leaves tirst appear in the spring they are heavily 

 charged with acicl juice. I'etioles short, 

 slightly groo\'Ccl, hairy. Stipules caducous. 

 Fluwcia. — A|)ril, when lea\es are one- 

 third grown. Staniinate borne in globose 

 he;ids an inch in diameter on slender hairy 

 peduncles, the staniinate flowers arc yel- 

 lowish green aid consist of a bell-shaped 

 four to seven-lobed calyx, corolla wanting, 

 stamens eight to ten, inserted on the calyx ; 

 filaments white, slender, exserted ; anthers 

 green, oblong, introrse, two-celled ; cells 

 opening longitudinally: ovary wanting. 



Pistillate flowers are borne in two-flowered clusters from the axils 



of the upper lea\'es surrounded by numerous awl-shnpcd bractlets. 



They consist of an urn-shaped .calyx, tube tliree-angled, adnate to 



ovary; limb four to hve-lobed, corolla wanting, stamens wanting; 



ovary inferior, three-celled, styles 



three, slender, exserted ; o\ules 



two in each cell. The inner bracts 



in time become the fruiting invol- 

 ucre. When full grown this is 



dark green covered with prickles ; 



in autumn it becomes light brown, 



the prickles strongly recur\-ed ; 



it is opened by the first severe 



frosts and remains on the branch 



after the nuts have fallen. 



Fruit. — Nut, triangular, pale 



chestnut brown, three-fourths of 



an inch long. Seed is sweet. It 



is believed that ;i beech must be 



fully forty years old before it 



fruits. 



"We sometimes think that 

 tlie birds are the first heralds 

 of the spring, but it is not so. 

 Vegetation sleeps like a tlog, 

 with one eye open, anil no 

 soon(;r has the sun turned 

 from his southern course than 

 nature in all her mj'riad buds 

 watches for his coming. There are signs of spring to the 

 wise before a blue wing has beat toward the north or a robin 



.>8c 



Staniinate and Pistillate- Flower Clusters 

 of the Beech. 



