170 
alliance in the same group, except the Ulmal, in which the flow’ers do not 
grow in catkins, and the Datiscal, which consists of polyspermous herbaceous 
plants. It is true that some Urtical orders have several carpels ; but when 
that happens, either the flowers are not in catkins, or the fruit not enclosed in 
a cupule. Amentales pass distinctly into Urticales by Garryaceie. 
Order CXX. CUPULIFERAE, 
or 
CuPULiFER^, Rich. Anal, du Fr. (1808) ; Lindl. Synops. 239. (1829) ; Blume Flora Java*, 
(1829). — CoRYLACE^, Mirb. Elem. 906. (1815). — QuERCiNEi®, Juss. in Diet. Sc. 
Nat. Yo\. 2. Suppl. 12. (1816). 
Essential Character. — Flowers unisexual; males amentaceous, females aggregate 
or amentaceous. Males : Stamens 5 to 20, inserted into the base of the scales or of a mem- 
branous calyx, generally distinct. Females: Ovaries crowned by the rudiments of a supe- 
rior calyx, seated within a coriaceous involucre {cupule^ of various figure, and with 
several cells and several ovules, the greater part of which are abortive ; ovules twin or soli- 
tary, pendulous; stigmas several, sub-sessile, distinct. Fruit a bony or coriaceous 1 -celled 
nut, more or less enclosed in the involucre. Seeds solitary, 1, 2, or 3, pendulous ; embryo 
large, with plano-convex fieshy cotyledons, and a minute superior radicle. — Trees or shrubs. 
Leaves with stipules, alternate, simple, often with veins proceeding straight from the midrib 
to the margin. 
Affinities. Plants of this order are known among European trees by 
their amentaceous flowers and peculiarly veined leaves ; from all other plants 
they are distinguished by their apetalous superior mdimentary calyx, fruit en- 
closed in a peculiar husk or cup, and nuts containing but 1 cell and 1 or 2 
seeds, in consequence of the abortion of the remainder. They are akin to 
Salicaceae and Betulacese, from which the presence of a calyx and, in the 
former case, very often the veining of their leaves, distinguish them. To Urti- 
caceae they are nearly allied, but difibr in their many-ceUed ovary, pendulous 
ovules, and superior calyx. 
Geography. Inhabitants of the forests of aU the temperate parts of the 
continent both of the Old and New World ; extremely common in Europe, 
Asia, and North America; more rare in Barbary and Chile, and the southern 
parts of South America ; and unknown at the Cape. The species which are 
found wdthin the tropics of either hemisphere are chiefly Oaks and Chestnuts, 
which abound in the high lands, but are unknown in the valleys of equatorial 
regions. For an admirable account of the species of Java, see Blume s Flora. 
Properties. An order which comprehends the Oak, the Hazel Nut, the 
Beech, and the Spanish Chestnut, can scarcely require much to be said to a 
European reader of its properties, which are of too common a use to be 
unknown even to the most ignorant. Whatever excellence may be found in 
the timber of the European species is not at all inferior in that of hotter 
countries. Blume tells us that that of his Lithocarpus javensis is called Passan- 
Batu, or Stone- oak, because of its hardness. Gallic acid exists abundantly in 
the Oak. The leaves of Quercus falcata are employed, on account of their 
astringency, externally in cases of gangrene ; and the same astringent prin- 
ciple, which pervades all the order, has caused them to be employed even as 
febrifuges, tonics, and stomachics. Cork is the bark of Quercus suber ; it 
contains a peculiar principle called Suberin {Turner, 700), and an acid called 
the Suberic {Ibid. 641). The galls that writing ink is prepared from are the 
produce of the Oak, from which they derive their astringency. The acorns of 
