ANGIOSPERM FAMILIES 01 FAGACEAE THE BEECH FAMILY FAGACEAE

ANGIOSPERM FAMILIES 01 FAGACEAE THE BEECH FAMILY

FAGACEAE THE BEECH FAMILY • Trees or shrubs • Cosmopolitan except in tropical S America and tropical and south Africa • About 900 species world wide • Five genera and about 97 species in N America • • • Fagus – beech Castanea – chestnut Lithocarpus – tanoak Chrysolepis – western chinkapin Quercus - oaks

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FAMILY • HABIT: mostly trees; shrubs. • LEAVES: deciduous or marscecent; alternate, simple; stipulate. • VENATION: pinnate and netted. • FRUIT: 1 -3 seeded nuts partially or completely surrounded by a spiny husk. • SPECIES HYBRIDS are common.

DETAILS OF THE FLOWER Usually anemophilous, rarely entomophilous. Unisexual (monoecious; imperfect). Sepals lobed and often spiny; Petals absent; Staminate flowers in catkins; in Fagus forming a head; 4 -8 stamens; pendent or erect; • Pistillate flowers in groups of 3, 2 or single. • • •

GENUS QUERCUS L. • LEAVES: deciduous or persistent; lobed or not; margin entire, crenate or serrate; shape and size very variable even on the same tree; stipules usually deciduous. • FLOWERS: imperfect; appearing before, with or after the new growth leaves; staminate flowers in catkins; pistillate flowers solitary or in flower spikes.

GENUS QUERCUS cont. • FRUIT: an acorn maturing in one or two seasons. • TWIGS: stout to slender; commonly angled; straight; buds clustered at the end; terminal bud present with many scales imbricated in 5 ranks; lateral buds similar but smaller. • SCARS: leaf scars semicircular; bundle scars scattered, numerous

QUERCUS OAKS sp.

INFRAGENERIC CLASSIFICATION • SUBGENUS QUERCUS (Lucobalanus) white oaks Section Quercus Leaves lobed lacking bristles at the tip of the lobes; usually with stellate hairs on the underside (adaxial side) and lacking multiradiate hairs; acorns mature in one season. True white oaks, chestnut oaks and live oaks.

INFRAGENERIC CLASSIFICATION • SUBGENUS QUERCUS (Erythrobalanus) red and black oaks Section Lobatae Tips of lobes with bristles; if unlobed, the margins, apices or both with spines or bristles; with multiradiate hairs, lacking stellate hairs; acorns maturing in two seasons

INFRAGENERIC CLASSIFICATION • SUBGENUS QUERCUS Section Protobalanus the intermediate oaks Leaves persistent often with aristate teeth; stellate or multiradiate hairs present; acorns maturing in two seasons

QUERCUS FLOWERS Catkins or aments; male Dichasium; female

QUERCUS MACROCARPA Burr oak

QUERCUS MACROCARPA BURR OAK

LEAF COMPARISON WHITE OAK LEAVE RED OAK LEAVES

TRICHOMES OR HAIRS MULTIRADIATE HAIRS STELLATE HAIR

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF OAKS • Major supplier of timber in N America after conifers. • Cork from two S European species. • Tannins • Acorns are a major source of food for wildlife. • Popular ornamentals and park species.

FAGUS GRANDIFOLIA American beech

GENUS FAGUS L. • LEAVES: deciduous; elliptical to oblong-ovate; margin serrate with incurved teeth; apex acuminate; base broadly cuneate; surfaces silky at first, becoming glabrous above and various degrees of puberulent below with tufts of hairs in the vein axils. • VENATION: secondary veins parallel to each other. • PETIOLE: short

GENUS FAGUS L. cont. • FLOWERS: appearing after unfolding of new leaves in the spring; staminate flowers clustered in a globose head; pistillate flowers in 2 to 4 flowered spikes surrounded by a cupule. • FRUIT: an edible nut, triangular in cross section; in pairs or in threes within a cupule covered with weak spines.

GENUS FAGUS L. cont. • TWIGS: slender, in zigzag; pseudoterminal buds ¾ to 1 inch long; slender, lanceolate, sharp; covered with imbricating scales; lateral buds similar. • SCARS: leaf scars small, inconspicuous. • BARK: smooth, bluish-gray, mottled.

FAGUS SYLVATICA European beech Male flowers Female flower

FAGUS GRANDIFOLIA Beech nuts

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FAGUS • European beech is an important timber tree of Europe. • Beech nuts are used in Europe to fatten hogs and produce oil. • An important ornamental tree with many cultivar varieties.

CASTANEA DENTATA American chestnut

CASTANEA sp. chestnut Castanea sativa; female Castanea mollisima; male

CASTANEA DENTATA American chestnut

CHRYSOLEPIS CHRYSOPHILLA Giant-golden chinkapin

LISOCARPUS DENSIFLORUS Tanoak

REFERENCES • FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA http: //www. efloras. org/florataxon. aspx? flora_id =1&taxon_id=10338 • FLORA OF MISSOURI http: //www. efloras. org/florataxon. aspx? flora_id =11&taxon_id=10338