OAK FAiriLT. 



307 



is another species resembling' the Pig'-nut, having small thin-shelled uuts, 

 the kernels of which are intensely bitter. 



Okder LXTIl. CUPULIF'EK^E. (Oak Family.) 



Trees or sTirulis with alternate simple penni-nerved leaves, deciduous dipitles and monoe- 

 cious floicers ; the staminaie ones in cylindrical (capitate-clustered in the Beech), aments ; 

 the jristillate solitary or clustered, furnished with an involucre which forms a kind of c^lp 

 (cwj7w/€) to the 1-celled 1-seeded indehiscent nut. Orari/ 2- 7-celled with 1 - 2 ovules in 

 each cell ; all the cells and ovules but one disappearing in the fruit. Calyx-tule adherent 

 to the ovary, the minute calyx-teeth crowning its summit. Seed without albumen, filled by 

 the einlryo, — ^the cotyledons thick and fleshy. 



* Fertile flowers scattered or few in a cluster. 

 Involucre 1-flowered, of.many little scales, forming a cup around the 



base of the hard, rounded nut or acorn. 1. Quercts. 



Involucre 2-3 flowered, forming a prickly bur, enclosing 1-3 nuts 



and sphtting info 4 thick valves. 2. Castaxea. 



Involucre 2-flowered, prickly, 4-valved, containing 2 sharply tri- 

 angular nuts. Sterile flowers in small head-like clusters. 3. Fagus. 

 Involucre 1 -2-flowercd becoming a leafy cup, much enlarged and 

 cut or torn at the apex, longer than the bony nut. 4. CoRTLrs. 

 ** Fertile flowers clustered in a kind of ament. 

 Involucre an open 3-lobed leaf, 2-flowered. Fruit a small ovoid nut. 5. Carpixcs. 

 Involucre a bladdery bag, 1-flowered, the whole catkin in fruit ap- 

 pearing like a hop. Fruit small and seed-like. 6. Ostrta. 



]. QUER'CUS, L. Oak 



[The ancient classical name.] 



^TA^MiXATE Fl. Aments slender, pendulous, without bracts. Calyx 

 6-8- (mostly 5-) parted. Stamens 5-12 ; anthers 2-celled. Pistillate 

 Fl. scattered or clustered. Involucre 1-fiowered, — formed of minute 

 bracts, and scales, imbricated in many series, and coalesced into a cup, 

 and becoming ^voody or bark-like. Calyx adherent to the ovary, — the 

 limb 6-toothcd. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules in pairs in the cells, collateral, 

 suspended ; stigmas as many as the cells of the ovary. Nut (or Acodi) 

 by abortion 1-seeded, ovoid or oblong, mucronate, coriaceously woody, 

 embraced and more or less included by the indurated cup-like involucre. 

 Seed pendulous ; testa membranaceous, thin ; cotyledons plano-convex, 

 thick and fleshy. Mostly trees with greenish or yellowish flowers, the 

 pistillate ones quite inconspicuous ; all appearing in May, and the fruit 

 generally mature in Octol^er. In a portion of our species the acorns are 

 biennial, — i. e., 2 years in coming to maturity. This peculiarity serves 

 to divide them into 2 sections which are subdivided into grcvps distin- 

 guished by the outline of the leaves. 



§1. Fruit annual (ripening in the fall after flowering) ; clusters mostly 

 peduncled : leaves not bristly-pointed or toothed. 



* White 0.iK Group. Leaves obtusely sinuate or pinnatifld lobed, all 

 pale, whitish or gray'sh-dotvny underneath. 



