16 KEY TO THE SPECIES 



* A low shrub growing in clumps. 



2. Bekula glandulosa Micbx. (Mountain-bog Birch). A small shrub about 

 1 m. high, usually occurring in rather dense patches, the twigs glandular- warty ; 

 leaves small, glabrous, crenulate, sub-orbicular or obovate, dark green above, 

 lighter and gland-dotted beneath ; bracts 3-lobed ; nut orbicular-winged. Common 

 in wet sub-alpine parks. 



2. ALNUS (Alder) 



Shrubs or small trees with flowers in terminal aments and developed before 

 the leaves, elongated and drooping staminate aments (3 flowers to each bract, a 

 3-5 parted calyx and as many stamens), ovoid or oblong pistillate aments (2 or 3 

 flowers to each fleshy bract, calyx of 4 small scales, and a 2-celled ovary), and a 

 wingless fruit. (See Plant Sti-uctures, p. 257, Fig. 241.) 



1. Alnus tenuifolia Nutt. (Paperleaf Alder). A large shrub or small 

 tree, usually several-stemmed from the base ; leaves ovate, with prominent veins, 

 rather large, sharply double-toothed ; aments begin their development the sum- 

 mer preceding the season in which they open and hang naked upon the branches 

 during the winter, opening in the spring before the leaves develop ; fertile aments 

 erect, their scales becoming woody, persistent for a time after the small, com- 

 pressed, scarcely winged nuts have fallen. The common Alder on all the streams 

 of this region. 



3. CORYLUS (Hazel-nut) 



Shrubs with toothed leaves, staminate flowers in drooping cylindrical aments 

 (consisting of 8 stamens), pistillate flowers from scaly buds, each in the axil of a 

 bract, with a pair of lateral bracts which become enlarged in fruit, forming the 

 elongated involucral cup or husk. 



1. Corylus rostrata Ait. (Beaked Hazel-nut). A small shrub, 1 m., more 

 or less, in height, usually in clumps or small thickets ; leaves ovate, acute, subcor- 

 date ; the involucre bristly, much prolonged above the ovoid nut, forming a narrow 

 tubular beak. Rare in this range. 



XIII. FAGACEiE (Beech Familt) 



Trees with alternate simple leaves, staminate flowers in slen- 

 der aments or small heads, fertile flowers 1 or 2 inclosed in a 

 small cup which becomes hard and more or less surrounds the 

 nut, 4-8-lobed calyx, no petals, and 3-20 stamens. 



1. QUERCUS (Oak) 



Trees with alternate simple leaves, greenish or yellowish staminate flowers in 

 slender aments (with 4-8-lobed calyx and 6-12 stamens), pistillate flowers scattered 

 or somewhat clustered, a nearly 3-celled ovary inclosed fty a scaly involucre, which 

 becomes a hard cup around the base of the nut or acorn. 



1. Quercus Gambellii Nutt. (Gambell's White Oak). A shrub 3-5 m. 

 high ; leaves obovate in outline, deeply lobed, green above, downy on lower sur- 

 face ; cup hemispheric ; acorn ovoid, acute or obtusish. 



