QUERCUS 
7i 
Order 4. FAGALES 
Fagales Engler Fuhrer Bot. Gart. Bresl. 31 (1886); in Pflanzenfam ., Nachtr. 345 (1897); Amentales Lindley 
Nat. Syst. ed. 2, 169 (1836). 
The frequent occurrence of simple catkins, the constant perianth, the somewhat indefinite number of the stamens 
and carpels, in the Fagaceae, prove to us that this is a more primitive family than either the Corylaceae or the Betu- 
laceae. We regard the entomophilous nature of Castanea as secondary, and comparable therefore with the same feature 
in Salix. 
The three families {Fagaceae, Corylaceae , and Betulaceae ) are closely allied ; and the Corylaceae occupies the inter- 
mediate position. Bentham and Hooker {Gen. PL iii, 403 (1880)) regarded them as being only of tribal rank; and in 
favour of this view, many arguments might be adduced. It is clear to us that the three groups are of equivalent rank ; 
and we do not support a modern opinion that the Betulaceae and the Corylaceae should be united into a single family equi- 
valent to the remaining family Fagaceae. 
“ Amentales pass distinctly into Urticales by Garryaceae” (Lindley, op. cit. p. 170), a North American family of plants. 
For characters, see page 3. 
Families of Fagales 
Family 1. Fagaceae (see below). Perianth present in both staminate and pistillate flowers. 
Involucre well-defined. Fruit a nut, not winged. 
Family 2. Corylaceae (p. 78). Perianth absent in the staminate, present in the pistillate 
flowers. Involucre more or less well-defined. Fruit a nut, not winged. 
Family 3. Betulaceae (p. 80). Perianth present in the staminate, absent in the pistillate 
flowers. Involucre absent. Fruit a winged achene. 
Family 1. FAGACEAE 
Fagaceae A. Braun in Ascherson FI. Brandenb. 62 et 615 (1864); Engler Fuhrer Bot. Gart. Bresl. 32 
(1886); Prantl in Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. i, 47 (1894); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. 433 (1911). 
Trees, shrubs, or undershrubs. Stipules consisting of bud-scales, usually fugaceous. Catkins 
simple or compound ; staminate ones usually pendulous. Pollination usually anemophilous. Perianth 
present in both staminate and pistillate flowers, usually more or less caducous in the staminate 
flowers. Stamens about 4 — 20, frequently 5 and opposite the perianth-segments. Ovaries with 
2 to about 6 — 9 carpels and as many loculi, subinferior. Ovules 1 — 2 in each loculus but only 
1 maturing, pendulous, anatropous. Stigmas either short and stout or long and filiform, as many 
as the carpels, purplish. Fruit a nut partly or wholly enclosed in an involucre or “ cupule,” nuts 
single or in groups within the involucre. Endosperm absent. Integument single or double. 
5 genera; about 350 species; cosmopolitan, chiefly temperate. 
Genera of Fagaceae 
Genus 1. Quercus (see below). Catkins diclinous, simple. Staminate catkins pendulous, elongate. 
Stigmas 3 — 4, rarely 5, short, stout. Nut terete, 1 in each cupule, exserted from the cupule. Coty- 
ledons smooth. 
Genus 2. fCastanea (p. 76). Catkins usually diclinous and with pistillate cymes of usually 
3 flowers at the base and staminate cymes of 3 — 7 flowers above, suberect or spreading. Stigmas 
4 — 9, filiform. Nuts in groups usually of 3, each group enclosed in a prickly cupule. Cotyledons 
rugose. 
Genus 3. Fagus (p. 77). Catkins diclinous, compound. Staminate catkins on long peduncles, 
the catkins proper being about as long as broad, pendulous. Pistillate catkins with 2 -flowered 
cymes, spreading or ascending. Stigmas 3, filiform. Fruits trigonous, 2 in each cupule. Cotyledons 
smooth. 
Genus 1. Quercus 
Quercus [Tournefort I ns tit. 582, t. 349 (1719)] L. Sp. PI. 994 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 431 0754 ); 
Prantl in Engler und Prantl Pflanzenfam. iii, pt. i, 55 (1894); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 445 (1911). 
