Flowering Plants: Smartweeds to Hazelnuts

Fagaceae—Beech Family

Order Fagales The Fagales, as treated by Thorne (1968), consists of two families, the Fagaceae and the Betulaceae. This is a departure from the system of Cronquist (1981), in which the Balanopaceae, a monotypic family known only from New Caledonia, is also included. Thorne's system has the Balanopaceae in its own order. Both Thorne and Cronquist retain the Corylaceae (sensu Hutchinson, 1959) in the Betulaceae. The Fagaceae and Betulaceae are well represented in the Illinois flora. Characteristics that unite families of the Fagales include: plants monoecious (Nothofagus is dioecious); pistillate flowers with an inferior , 1- to 6-locular ovary containing 2 or more ovules that are unitegmic or bitegmic; fruit a I-seeded nut without endosperm; leaves stipulate, simple, entire or variously indented, typically pubescent at maturity. FAGACEAE-BEECH FAMILY Monoecious trees or shrubs with alternate, simple leaves and narrow , deciduous stipules; staminate flowers in pendulous or erect aments or heads; pistillate flowers solitary or in clusters of 2-4, subtended by an involucre of bracts that persists in fruit as an indurated cupule or other envelope; ovary inferior and with 1 or 2 pendulous ovules per locule; fruit a one-seeded (by abortion) nut lacking endosperm; ovules bitegmic. The beech family contains six genera and more than 600 species. The family is represented in Illinois by Fagus, Castanea, and Quercus . KEY TO THE GENERA OF Fagaceae IN ILLINOIS 1. Apical buds solitary or absent; leaves sharply serrate; pistillate flowers spiny; involucre persistent and spiny; nut compressed ___________ 2 1. Apical buds 3 or more; leaves entire, lobed, dentate, or serrate; pistillate flowers not spiny; involucre persistent in fruit but not spiny; nut not compressed ________________________________ 3. Quercus 114 Fagus / 115 2. Apical bud solitary; staminate flowers in drooping, globose clusters; nut sharply 3-angled ____________________________ 1. Fagus 2. Apical buds absent; staminate flowers in slender, ascending aments; nut subglobose, flattened on 1 or 2 sides ___________ 2. Castanea 1. Fagus L. -Beech Trees with smooth gray bark; twigs slender, terete, with solid pith; buds linear, sharp-pointed, often twice as long as broad; leaves alternate , simple, serrate; staminate flowers in pendulous heads; stamens 8-16; pistillate flowers usually in pairs subtended by numerous bracts; ovary 3-locular, with 2 ovules per locule; fruit a nut, usually in pairs in a prickly, 4-valved involucre. Fagus is a genus of the northern hemisphere with one species, F. grandifolia, in North America and seven in the Old World. Copper beech and weeping beech are varieties of the European F. sylvatica cultivated in the United States for their attractive foliage or graceful lines. 1. Fagus grandifolia Ehr. var. caroliniana (Loud.) Fern. & Rehd. Rhodora 9:114· 1907. Fig. 58. Fagus americana Sweet, Hort. Brit. 370. 1826. Fagus ferruginea Ait. val'. caroliniana Loud. Arb. Frut. Brit. 3:1980. 1838. Tree commonly 25-30 m tall, the trunk up to 1. 5 m in diameter, the crowns broad and rounded in open situations; bark smooth, gray; twigs slender, ashy gray, glabrous, with a distinct horizontal spread; buds acuminate, puberulent at the apex, up to 3 cm long and 0.5 cm broad, reddish; leaves oblong-ovate, 5-12 cm in length and 2-8 cm in width, the margins sharply serrate, pubescent beneath on veins or generally over entire smface; the petioles hairy, up to 4 cm in length; staminate flowers in globose heads on drooping peduncles, the calyx 4- to 8-lobed; stamens 8-16; pistillate flowers in clusters of 2-4, subtended by a 4-valved involucre of hairy bracts, the calyx 4- or 5-lobed, the ovary 3-locular with 2 ovules per cell; fruit a triangular nut usually in clusters of 3, partly or nearly enclosed by a woody involucre bearing numerous recurved prickles. 116 / SMARTWEEDS TO HAZELNUTS 58. Fagus grandifolia var. caroliniana (Beech). a. Leafy branch, XL h. Winter twig and bud, X 2. c. Staminate inflorescence, X 5. d. Staminate flower, X 20. e. Capsule, X 5. f. Nut, X 10. Castanea I 117 COMMON NAME: Beech. • HABITAT: Typically in rich, moist woods, but occasionally on bluffs. RANGE: Southern Canada from Nova Scotia to eastern • Ontario, south to southern Missouri and eastern Texas, • east to Florida. • ILLINOIS DISTRIBUTION: Occasional in the southern1 --L_r-"1"W' most counties, along the eastern border in the southern one-half of the state, and in Vermilion, Cook, and Lake counties to the north. Two varieties of beech are recognized. Illinois plants...