ANGIOSPERM FAMILIES 01

FAGACEAETHE 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 QuercusLeaves 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 LobataeTips 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 QUERCUSSection Protobalanus the intermediate oaksLeaves persistent often with aristate teeth;

stellate or multiradiate hairs present; acorns maturing in two seasons

QUERCUS FLOWERSCatkins or aments; male Dichasium; female

QUERCUS MACROCARPABurr oak

QUERCUS MACROCARPABURR OAK

LEAF COMPARISON

WHITE OAK LEAVE RED OAK LEAVES

TRICHOMES OR HAIRSMULTIRADIATE 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 SYLVATICAEuropean beech

Male flowers Female flower

FAGUS GRANDIFOLIABeech 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 DENTATAAmerican chestnut

CHRYSOLEPIS CHRYSOPHILLAGiant-golden chinkapin

CHRYSOLEPIS CHRYSOPHILLAGiant-golden chinkapin

LISOCARPUS DENSIFLORUSTanoak

LISOCARPUS DENSIFLORUSTanoak

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