Spring Flora of Oklahoma 
23 
tillate flowers solitary or in small clusters, each flower 
subtended by more or less united bracts, which at ma¬ 
turity form a cup or bur. Calyx minutely toothed; petals 
none; ovary 2-7-celled, but becoming 1-celled. Fruit a 
1-seeded nut. 
Staminate flowers capitate; nut sharply triangular. 
I. Fagus. 
Staminate flowers in slender aments or catkins; nut 
rounded or plane-convex. II. Quercus. 
I. FAGUS (Tourn.) L. 
Trees with smooth, close, ash-gray bark, and slender, 
often horizontal branches. Staminate flowers in long, 
slender-peduncled, roundish clusters; calyx bell-shaped, 
4-6-cleft; stamens 8-12; anthers 2-celled. Pistillate flow¬ 
ers, or, more often, in pairs, peduncled, surrounded by a 4- 
lobed involucre and numerous linear bracts; ovary 3- 
celled, with 2 ovules in each cell, but usually only one 
ovule maturing in each ovary; styles 3, thread-shaped. 
Fruit a thin-shelled, 3-angled nut. 
1. Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. American Beech. Large tree. 
Leaves oblong-ovate, taper-pointed, distinctly and often coarsely 
toothed, light green. Petioles and midrib soon nearly naked. Prickles 
of the yellowish fruit subulate-filiform, elongated, recurved or spread¬ 
ing. 
Rich soil. April-May. Eastern part of state. 
II. QUERCUS (Tourn.) L. 
Trees or shrubs, with hard, coarsely-grained wood. 
Leaf blades entire, toothed, or lobed, firm-membranous 
or leathery, sometimes evergreen. Staminate aments or 
catkins elongate, drooping, clustered; calyx campanulate, 
4-7-lobed, stamens 6-12; filaments filiform. Pistillate 
flowers solitary or in lax spikes; capyx urn-shaped or 
cup-shaped. Ovary usually 3-celled; styles 3; ovules 2 
in each cell, but seldom more than one maturing in each 
