MONOECIA POLYANDRIA 541 



C amehtcaxa, Mx. leaves oblong-ovate, acuminate, unequally 

 te- scales of the pistillate ament trifid, the middle segment much 

 ISklLiMtl obliquely ovate-lanceolate, unequally serrate-dentate on one 

 side Beck, Hot. j>. 326. Icon, Mc.f. Sijlva, 3. tab. 108. 

 C Betulus virginica. Marsh, .lrbitst. p. 25. 

 Amkuicax Caupinls. Vulgd~- Hornbeam. Water Beech. 

 a 10 to CO feet high, and 2 to 4 or 5 inches in diameter, irregularly and 

 sely ridged and sulcate, branching (often branched from the root, or growing 

 all clusters)* coated with a smooth light-grey or cinereous bark, like the 

 K $ cT Leaves 2 to 3 or 4 inches long, and 1 to 2 inches wide, oblong-ovate and 

 1 cVovat, acuminate, often slightly cordate at base, sharply and unequally 

 ^ te smoothish? nerved, the nerves beneath somewhat hairy, with small tufts 

 Tabescence in the axils ; petioles 1 fourth to half an inch long, pilose. Slam- 

 te ament* about an inch long. Pistillate amenta 2 to 3 inches long, loosely 

 i bricated, or racemose \floteets in pairs, each pair subtended by an ovate acu- 

 itc deciduous bract ; scales enlarging, finally about an inch long, and half an 

 h wide at base, smooth. Nut broad-ovoid, somewhat compressed, acute, stri- 

 ated with about 6 ribs, smoolhish, dark brown. 

 Hob. Margins of rivulets: frequent. M. April. Fr. Sept— Octo. 

 Obs. The only known species in the V> States. 



434. OSTRYA. MicheU. Mat. Gen. 757. 

 rGrcck, Osticon, a shell, or scale ; in allusion to the structure of the fruit.] 



Stamixate Fl. Ament cylindric; scales orbicular-ovate, acuminate, 

 ciliate. Anthers conspicuously bearded at summit* Pistillate Fl. 

 tmeni linear, loosely imbricated, bracteate, with the flowers in pairs ; 

 scales 0, but a membranous sac, or involucre, enclosing each flower. 

 Perianth slightly urceolatc, subdentate, incorporated with the ovary. 

 Sti/les 2, united at base, A*ut lance-oblong, somewhat compressed, 

 included in the enlarged imbricated bladder-like sac. 



Small trees : leaves alternate, stipular ; aments terminal, the pistillate ones of 

 semi-inflated membranous imbricated capsules. Xat- Ord. 63. Lindl. Bet ulineje* 



1. 0. vmr.iNiCA, U'ilhl. Leaves elliptic-ovate, acuminate, sharply 



serrate; cones oblong; buds acute. Beck, Hot. p % 327. 



Carninus Ostrya. Marsh. Arbust. p. 25. Mx. Am. 2. p. 202. Mr. 



f. S'tlva, 3. f). 30 (Icon, tab. 109.). 



ViiKJiNMAX Ostuya. Vulgd — Hop-Hornbeam. Iron-wood. 



Stem -20 to 40 feet high, and 1 to 8 or 10 inches in diameter, wrth a brown rough* 

 ish slightly-fissured bark, and slender branches which are pilose while young. 

 Lcurcs* to 4 inches long, and 1 to 2 inches wide, elliptic-ovate, sometimes incli- 

 ning to obovate, acuminate, sharply and unequally serrate, the base often unequal, 

 and slightly cordate, smoolhish above, somewhat pilose on the nerves beneath, 

 with small tufts of pubescence in their axils; petioles about 1 fourth of an inch 

 Ion?, pilose. Stami note aments an inch to an inch and half Ion?. Pistillate 

 aments mostly terminal and solitary {in pairs, Autliors), 1 to near 2 inches long, 

 slender and loosely imbricated ; Jotters in pairs, each pair subtended by an 

 ovate-lanceolate membranous striate tawny and very caducous bract; scale s 

 none,— but each flower contained in an oblong-lanceolate acuminate membranous 

 sac, which is clothed with a cinereous pubescence, and the base thickly beset with 

 riijid tawny hairs,— the SOI enlarging, and becoming a bladder-like envelope of 



46 



