CUPULIFER^ 127 



flowers solitary or in fascicles ; fruit a nut seated in a cup 

 (cupule), formed by the coalescence of a whorl of har- 

 dened often woody bracts. A moderately large order, 

 belonging chiefly to the Northern Temperate Zone; no 

 alpine species. 



I. Fagus, L. 



Fruit usually in pairs, enclosed in the hardened or 

 coriaceous scaly involucre (beech-mast). 

 F. sylvatica, L., Beech; common. 



2. QUERCUS, L. 



Fruit an acorn, seated in a smooth or spiny cup. 



Our two English Oaks, Q. pedunculata, Ehrh., with 

 sessile leaves, and acorns on long stalks ; and sessiliflora, 

 Salisb., with longish leaf-stalk, and acorns nearly sessile ; 

 common. Also Q. pubescens, Willd. {lanuginosa, Thuill.), 

 a much smaller tree, the under surface of the leaves 

 pubescent ; Southern and Eastern Switzerland, Pyrenees. 

 Q. Cerris, L. ; stigmas yellow, scales of cup long, linear- 

 subulate, twisted, spreading; Ticino, Jura, rare. 



3. CasTANEA, L. 



Fruit enclosed in a spiny capsule-like involucre. 

 C. vulgaris, Lam. (sativa, Mill., vesca, Gsertn.), Spanish 

 Chestnut, Sweet Chestnut ; South of the Alps. 



4. CORYLUS, L. 



Fruit a woody i -seeded nut, enclosed in the greatly 

 enlarged coriaceous involucre. 



C. Avellana, L., Hazel; very common. 



