WILLOW FAMILY 45 I 



slender, exserted filaments ; carpellate flowers 2 — 4 together within 

 a 4-lobed, prickly capsule ; stigmas 3 ; nut 3-cornered, enclosed 

 in the enlarged hardened cupule. (Name, the Classical Latin 

 name of the tree.) 



1. F. sylvdtica (Common Beech). — A large and beautiful tree 

 with thin, smooth, olive-grey bark; long, pointed, chestnut- 

 brown buds ; glossy, ovate leaves, plaited parallel to the pinnate 

 veins in the bud, silky when young. — Woods on dry soil, chiefly 

 in the south. — Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



fAgus sylvatica (Common Beech). 



Ord. LXXVI. Salicince. — Willow Family 



A small Order of trees and shrubs of very obscure relationships, 

 occurring mostly in the Arctic and North Temperate zone, the 

 more northern forms being dwarf and shrubby. They have scat- 

 tered, simple, stipulate, deciduous leaves ; dioecious flowers in 

 catkins, commonly appearing before the leaves ; stamens 2 — 30 ; 

 ovary 1 -chambered ; styles 2 ; ovules numerous ; fruit a 2-valved, 

 many-seeded capsule ; seeds covered with a tuft of silky hairs. 

 The wood of Poplars and Willow grows in general so quickly that 

 it is soft and of little value as timber ; but it is used for cricket- 

 bats, charcoal, and paper-pulp. The flexible shoots of certain 



G G 2 



