CHAP. CV. CoKYLA V CE/E. 1715 



CHAP. CV. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER CORYLA v CEA:, 



OR cupuli'ferje. 



Que'rcus Lin. Flowers unisexual; those of both sexes upon one plant. — 

 Male flowers disposed in long, slender, pendulous catkins ; the catkins in 

 groups. Each flower consists of 8 or more stamens, and these are attended 

 by 6 — 8 bracteas, that are coherent at the base, and resemble a 6 — 8- 

 parted calyx. — Female flowers borne upon erect axillary peduncles ; a 

 few upon a peduncle. Each flower consists of a pistil, whose ovary, and 

 the basal part of whose style, are invested with an adnate calyx, that is 

 toothed at the tip ; and the part of this that covers the ovary is again in- 

 vested with involucral scales, that are connate with external imbricate 

 bracteal ones. Ovary with 3 cells (? 5 in Q. Flex), and 2 ovules in each, 

 that at first are erect, soon after pendulous. Style short. Stigma 3-lobed 

 (? 5-lobed in Q. /lex.), rather fleshy. — Fruit an acorn, mostly oblong or 

 ovate ; its lower part invested with an imbricate cup ; its base scarred ; the 

 rest of its surface invested with the adherent, coriaceous, smooth calyx, 

 that is separable by art; cell, by abortion, 1 ; seed, by abortion, 1, very 

 rarely 2. — Species numerous. Trees, chiefly large and deciduous ; for the 

 greater part natives of the temperate zone of the northern hemispheres, but 

 some of them found on mountains in the torrid zone. Leaves alternate, 

 annual, or persistent. Scales of the buds imbricated. Leaves conduplicate 

 in the bud. ( T. Nets ab Esenbeck Gen. PI. Fl. Germ. Illustr. ; Smith Eng. 

 Fl., iv. p. 148. ; and observation.) 



Fa n gus Toimu Flowers unisexual, those of the two sexes upon one plant. 

 — Male flowers in stalked drooping heads, or capitate catkins, 3 or 4 in 

 each, attended by minute deciduous bracteas. Each flower consists of 

 a 5 — 6-cleft bell-shaped calyx, and 8 — 12 stamens, that arise from the 

 bottom of the calyx, and extend beyond its mouth. — Female flowers borne 

 2 — 6 together, within a pitcher-shaped indistinctly 4-lobed involucre, con- 

 stituted of numerous unequal bracteal scales, and interior scales grown 

 together. Each flower consists of a calyx, lengthened into a laciniate limb, 

 and investing the ovary. An ovary of 3 angles, and 3 cells, and 2 pendulous 

 ovules in each. — Fruit. Nuts as many as, or fewer than, the ovaries, sur- 

 rounded by the externally echinate involucre, that becomes 4-valved, and 

 somewhat woody. Nuts upright, having 3 acute corners, crowned at the tip 

 with the hairy lobes of the calyx : each includes 2 — 3 seeds, pendulous at 

 the tip of the partly obliterated dissepiments, where are the remains of the 

 abortive ovules. — Species few. Trees tall in stature ; natives of the colder 

 parts of Europe and America. Leaves alternate, annual, feather-veined, 

 plaited in the bud. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. PL Fl. Germ. ; Smith Eng. 

 FL, iv. p. 150, 151.; and observation.) 



Casta^nea. Tourn. Flowers unisexual, very rarely bisexual ; those of the dis- 

 tinct sexes upon one plant. — Male flowers each consisting of a 6-parted 

 calyx, and 10 — 15 stamens, affixed to its bottom, and extended beyond its 

 mouth. The flowers are sessile, and disposed in groups along axillary stalks : 

 each group consists of many flowers, and is involucrated by a bractea and a 

 bracteole. — The female flowers consist each of an ovary, tapered to the 

 tip, clothed with a calyx, and crowned by its 6 — 7 — 8-cleft limb, and bear- 

 ing as many styles, and having as many cells, with two pendulous ovules 

 in each. The flowers are disposed 2 — 3 or more together, within a bell- 

 shaped, and externally bristly involucre, and the involucred groups are 

 disposed upon terminal stalks, that are lengthened out as the flowers 

 advance to the state of fruit; a few at the base of the stalks that bear 

 the groups of male flowers, and some solitarily in the axils of leaves. 

 — Fruit. The involucre is 4-valved, and includes 2 — 3 nuts ; the rest 

 of the number of ovaries being abortive. The nuts are large, and have 



5 t 3 



