171 
a species known in the Levant under the name of Velonia (Quercus cCgilops) 
are imported for the use of dyers. 
GENERA. 
Carpinus, L. Corylus, L. Castanea, Gsertn. Lithocarpus, Bl. 
Ostrya, Scop. Fagus, L. Quercus, L. Synaedrys (19). 
Order CXXI. BETULACE^. The Birch Tribe. 
Amentace/E, Juss. Gen. 407. (1789) in part ; Lindl. Synops. § 228. (1829). — Betuline.e, 
L. C. Richard MSS. A. Richard, Eltm. de la Bot. ed. 4. 562. (1828) . 
Essential Character. — Flowers unisexual, monoecious, amentaceous ; the males 
sometimes having a membranous lobed calyx. Stamens distinct, scarcely ever monadel- 
phous ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary superior, 2-celled ; ovules definite, pendulous ; style sin- 
gle, or none; stigmas 2. Fruit membranous, indehiscent, by abortion 1 -celled. Seeds 
pendulous, naked ; albumen none ; embryo straight ; radicle superior. — Trees or shrubs. 
Leaves alternate, simple, with the primary veins often running straight from the midrib to 
the margin ; stipules deciduous. 
Affinities. This order approaches more near to Urticaceae and Cupu- 
liferse than either Platanacese or Salicaceae, which may be considered dismem- 
berments of it. In the male flowers of several species there is a distinct 
membranous caly:x, very like that of Ulmus ; the seeds are definite and pendu- 
lous, and the leaves have the same venation as Cupuliferse. It is well 
distinguished by the 2 distinct cells of the fruit, and by the want of a cupule 
to the female flowers. 
Geography. Inhabitants of the woods of Europe, Northern Asia, and 
North America, and even making their appearance on the mountains of Peru 
and Columbia. 
Properties. Fine timber-trees, usually with deciduous leaves ; their bark 
astringent, and sometimes employed as a febrifuge ; but chiefly valued for 
their importance as ornaments of a landscape. Their wood is often light, and 
of inferior quality, but that of the Black Birch of North America is one of the 
hardest and most valuable we know. 
GENERA. 
Betula, L. 
Alnus, W. 
Order CXXII. SCEPACEiE. 
Essential Character. — Flowers unisexual (dioecious). Males in catkins. Calyx 
4-5-leaved, imbricated, very minute and membranous. Stamens 2-5 ; filaments short, 
straight, not elastic ; anthers 2-celled, opening by longitudinal parallel sutures ; connective 
inconspicuous. Females in short axillary racemes. Calyx of six sepals in two whorls 
(always?), inferior, the inner ones in one species at least 3-lobed. Ovary with two cells, in 
each of which there are two ovules ; style 0 ; stigma with two short emarginate lobes, or 
with 4 equal fringed ones ; ovules collateral, pendulous, with a broad scale projecting from 
the placenta and covering over the foramen, their ends often buried in hears projecting from 
the base of the cell. [In LepidostachysRoxburghi the Capsule round, two-celled, 4-valved ; the 
endocarp thin, tough, and separable from the friable sarcocarp. Seeds single or two, enveloped 
in a succulent aril ; embryo green in the axis of albumen, with obovate cotyledons and a 
