CUPULIFEE^. (oak FAMILY.) 403 



kernel is difficult of extraction from the thick and bony nut. — A var. mAxima, 

 Nutt., bears fruit " as large as an apple," with an exceedingly thick husk. 



u. C. microcdrpa, Nutt. (Small-fkuited Hickory.) Leaflets b- 

 7, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, glandular underneath (not downy) ; catkins smooth ; 

 fruit roundish-ovoid, with a thin husk ; nut slightly 4-angled, the shell rather thin. 

 — Moist woodlands, Pcnn. (N. England?) and southwestward. — Fruit only J' 

 in diameter, shaped like that of the last ; tlie foliage much as in the next. 



6. C. glabra, Torr. (Pig-nut or Bsoom Hickokt.) Leaflets 5-7, 

 ovate-lanceolate, serrate, smooth or nearly so ; fruit pear-shaped or roundish-obovate, 

 thin, splitting about half-way down into 4 coriaceous yalves ; nut haj-d and 



-tough, witha sweetish or bitterish small kernel. (C. porcina, Nutt.) — Wood- 

 lands; common. — A large tree, with a close bark, very tough and valuable 

 wood, and exceedingly tough sprouts (used as hickory withes) : the fruit and nuts 

 of variable form. 



* * # Seed intensely bitter : husk thin and sofl : bark smooth : buds little scaly. 



7, C. amara, Nutt. (Bitter-nut or Swamp Hickory.) Leaflets 

 7-11, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth ; fruit globular, with ridged or promi- 

 nent seams opening half-way down ; nut inversely hcait-shaped, its shell thin 

 and fragile. — Wet woods ; common. — A graceful tree ; the timber inferior to 

 the other Hickories. Nut-shell so fragile that it may be crushed with the hand; 

 the bitter kernel remarkably corrugated. 



Okdek 107. CUPULIFERiE. (Oak Family.) 



Trees o-" shrubs, with alternate and simple straight-reined leaves, deciduous 

 $tipules, and monoecious flowers ; the sterile in catkins (amenis') (or capitate- 

 clustered in ike Beech) ; the fertile solitary or clustered, furnished with an 

 involucre which forms a cup or covering to the 1-celled 1-seeded nut. Ovary 

 2 - 7-celled, with 1-2 pendulous anatropous ovules in each cell ; but all 

 the cells and ovules except one disappearing in the fruit. Calyx adherent 

 to the ovary, the minute teeth crowning its summit. Seed with no albu- 

 men, filled with the embryo: cotyledons very thict and fleshy: radicle 

 short, superior. 



Synopsis. 



* Fertile flowers scattered or few in a cluster. 



1. QUERCCS. Involucre 1-flowered, of many Imbricated small scales, forming a cup around 



the base of the hard and rounded nut. 



2. CASTANBA. Involucre 2-3-flowered, forming a prickly bur enclosing 1-3 coriaceous 



nuts, opening at length by 4 valves. 



3. FAGUS Involucre 2-flowered, rather prickly, 4-valTed, enclosing 2 sharply triangular 



nuts. Sterile flowers in capitate clusters. 



4. CORYLTJS Involucre 1 - 2-flowered, formed of 2 - 3 confluent scales, which become leafy- 



coriaceous, much enlarged and cut or lorn at the apex, enclosing a bony nut. 

 * * Fertile flowers clustered in a kind of ament. 

 fi. CARPINUS. Involucre a separate open leaf,* 2-flowered. Fruit a small ovoid nut. 

 6. OSTRYA. Involucre a bl«?.dery bag, 1-floweied, enclosing the seed-like nut. 



