OAK FAMILY. 



307 



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

 the kernels of which are intensely bitter. 



Order LXYIl. CUPULI'FEE^. (Oak Family.) 



Trees or shrubs with alternate simple penni-nerved Zeares. deciduous stipules and monoe- 

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

 the pistillate solitary or clustered, furnished with an involucre which forms a kind of cup 

 (cupule) to the 1-celled 1-seeded indehiscent nut. Oi-ary 2- 7-celIed %vith 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 embryo^— the cotyledons thick and fleshy. 



* Fertile tiowers 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. Quercus. 



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



and splitting into 4 thick valves. 2. Castajjea. 



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

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

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

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

 ** Fertile flowers clustered in a kind of ament. 

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

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

 pearing like a bop. Fruit small and seed-like. 6. Ostkta. 



3. QUEE'CUS, L. Oak 



[The ancient cla.ss;cal name.] 



Stamixate Fl. Aments slender, pendulous, without feracts. Calyx 

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

 Fl. scattered or c'u.=tered. Involucre 1-flowered, — formed of minute 

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

 and becoming woody or bark-like. Cahjx adherent to the ovary, — the 

 limb 6-toothed. Ovary 3-celled : ovules in pairs in the cells, collateral, 

 suspended ; stigmas as many as the ceils of the ovary. Nut (or Acorn) 

 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 October. 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 groups 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 Oak Group. Leaves obtusely sinuate or pinnatifid lobed, all 

 pale, whitish or grayish-downy underneath. 



