Cupuliferae
A very important natural order of trees and shrubs. Flowers monoecious. Male solitary, crowded, or in spikes, bracteate; sepals unequal, one to five or more, or absent; stamens two to twenty on a disk, or adnate to the bases of the sepals; anthers two-celled. Female: calyx adnate to the ovary, or absent; ovary inferior, after fertilisation more or less completely two to three (rarely four to six) celled; styles stigmatose above and within. Fruit indehiscent, seated on, or inclosed within, the hardened accrescent bracts. There are ten genera, and about 400 species. They are principally confined to the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere, but some are found in New Zealand, Chili, and the mountains of Java, Borneo, South Australia, &c.