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Myrica. | LXXIII, AMENTACEA, 403 
Catkin-scales entire. Stamens 2, rarely 3 to 5, with 1 or 2 gland- 
like inner scales . : : : ; ; ; : b . 8. SALIX. 
Catkin-scales jagged. Stamens several, in an oblique, cup- 
shaped perianth . - : : ; P : ; ; . 9. POPULUS. 
Flowers monecious. 
Male catkins slender and interrupted. Female flowers in small, 
sessile or shortly-stalked clusters . ; P ) . 7 QUERCUS. 
Male catkins globular, on pendulous stalks. eee erect, 
globular, softly hairy . ; 3 : . 6. FAGUS. 
Tree or shrub, ‘in fruit. 
Capsules (in catkins) opening in 2 valves. Seeds minute, with a 
tuft of long, cottony hairs. 
Scales of the catkin entire. Leaves on short or rather stiff stalks . 8. SALIX. 
Scales of the catkin jagged. Leaves on baie stalks, we broad, 
shaking with the wind . : 9. POPULUS. 
Nuts 1-seeded. 
Nuts small, in compact catkins. 
Nuts slightly succulent, and resinous outside / ; : - 1. MYRICA. 
Nuts flat and quite dry. 
Scales of the catkins thin and deciduous. Nuts winged . 3. BETULA. 
Scales of the catkins hard, remaining after the nuts have 
fallen . 2. ALNUS. 
Nuts solitary, or in clusters, or in loose spikes, “wholly or partially 
enclosed in an involucre. 
Nuts small, in loose spikes, each in a 3-lobed, leafy involucre 4. CARPINUS. 
Nuts solitary or clustered, each in an involucre adhering to it at 
the base, with leafy, jagged lobes - .5.: CORYLUS. 
Nuts (acorns) projecting from a short, cup- -shaped involucre 7. QUERCUS. 
Nuts completely enclosed in a prickly involucre 6. FAGUS. 
These nine genera are distributed by modern botanists ft four tribes 
or orders: MYRICACEA, limited to Myrica ; BETULACEA, including 
Alnus and Betula ; CUPULIFER, comprising Carpinus, Corylus, Fagus, 
and Quercus ; and SALICINESA, for Salix and Populus. 
Among trees generally planted in Britain, belonging to exotic genera 
of Amentacee or their allies, are the Spanish Chestnut (Castanea), with 
the flowers nearly of an Oak, but the nuts completely enclosed in a 
prickly involucre, as in Fagus; the Planes (Plantanus), with both male 
and female catkins globular and pendulous, the flowers intermixed 
with bristly hairs, and differing slightly from the family in their 
albuminous seeds; and two or three species of Walnut (/uglans), 
which in their pinnated leaves and more perfect perianth show an 
approach to Verebinthacee. [Of the above the Chestnut seeds and 
reproduces itself freely in parts of Surrey and elsewhere, and may 
fairly claim the position of a naturalised plant.] 
I. MYRICA. GALE. 
Shrubs, with resinous, dotted leaves. Flowers dicecious, in short, 
sessile catkins ; the scales imbricated, without inner scales. Male 
catkins with 4 or 8 stamens within each scale, the anthers nearly 
sessile, and no perianth. Females with 2 ovaries within each scale; 
perianth adhering to the base of the ovary, with two lateral, projecting 
lobes. Stigmas 2, linear. Fruit a small, resinous or nearly drupe- like, 
globular nut, with 1 erect seed. 
A genus of several species, dispersed over the temperate regions of 
the globe, or the mountainous parts of the tropics. Associated with 
two or three small North American or South African genera, it forms 
a distinct tribe, approaching Hippophae in the 2-lobed female perianth 
and almost drupe- -like nut, 
