204 COMMON CANADIAN WILD PLANTS. 



bony, and covered with white wax. — Sands' soil near the 

 coast, Atl. Prov. 



8. COMPTO'NIA, Solander. Sweet-Fern. 

 C. asplenifo'lia. Ait. (Myrica asplenifolia, Endl., in 

 . Macoun's Catalogue.) Leaves linear-lanceolate in outline, 

 deeply pinnatifid, the lobes numerous and rounded. — Dry 

 soil ; especially in Pine barrens. 



Order LXXXVIII. CUPULIF'ER^. (Oak Family.) 



Slirubs or trees, with alternate simple leaves, deciduous 

 stipules, and monoecious flowers. Sterile flowers in catkins 

 (but in Beech in small heads); the fertile ones solitary or 

 clustered, aad furnished with an involucre which forms a, 

 scaly cup or a bur surrounding the nut. 



Synopsis of the Ocucra. 



1. Qiioi'Vjift. Sterile flowers witli a caljjx including few or several 

 stamens with slender lilaments. Fertile flowers scatteretl or some- 

 what clustered, each in a scaly involucre or eupule. Nut (acorn) 

 rounded, tlie base enclosed by the eupule. (Part I., sec. 71.) 



i\ Castii'iica. Sterile flowers in long slender catlcins. Calyx 0-parted. 

 Fertile flowers usually 3 in each Involucre, the latter prickly, 

 forming a bur. Calyx e-lobed. Stigmas bristle-shaped. Nuts 

 enclosed (mostly 2 or 3 together) in the prickly 4-valved involucre, 

 flattened when there are more than one. 



3. Fagiis. Stei-ile flowers in a small head on drooping iieduncles. 



Calyx bell-slmped. Fertile flowers in pairs in the involucre, 



wj[^ch consists of awl-shaped bractlets grown together at the 



bases. Calyx-lobes awl-shaped. Nuts 3-angled, generally in pairs 



,. ill the bur-like 4-valved eupule. Bark close, smooth and light gray. 



4. Cfii-'ylns. Sterile flowers in drooping catkins. No calyx. Stamens 



8 (with 1-celled anthers), and 2 small bractlets under each bract. 

 Fertile flowers in u, small scaly head; 1 ovary, surmounted by 2 

 long red stigmas, under each scale, and accompanied by a pair of 

 bractlets which. In fruit, enlarge and form a leaf-like or tubular 

 fringed or toothed involucre closely enveloping each nut. Sterile 

 ' catkins from the axils of the previous year. Fertile flowers 



terminating the new shoots. 



5. Os'trya. Sterile flowers in drooping catkins. Calyx wanting. 



Stamens several under each bract, but not accompanied by bract- 

 lets. Fertile flowers in short catkins, 2 under each bract, each 



