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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Beech family
| image = Quercus ilex rotundifolia.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Holm Oak (''Quercus ilex'' subsp. ''rotundifolia'')
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Fagales]]
| familia = '''Fagaceae'''
| familia_authority = [[Barthélemy Charles Joseph du Mortier|Dumortier]]
| subdivision_ranks = [[Genus|Genera]]
| subdivision =
''[[chestnut|Castanea]]'' - Chestnuts<br/>
''[[Castanopsis]]'' <br/>
''[[Chrysolepis]]'' - Golden chinkapin<br/>
''[[Colombobalanus]]'' <br/>
''[[Cyclobalanopsis]]'' <br/>
''[[beech|Fagus]]'' - Beeches<br/>
''[[Formanodendron]]'' <br/>
''[[Lithocarpus]]'' - Stone oaks<br/>
''[[Nothofagus]]'' - Southern beeches<br/>
''[[oak|Quercus]]'' - Oaks<br/>
''[[Trigonobalanus]]''
}}

The family '''Fagaceae''', or '''beech family''', is characterized by alternate [[leaf|leaves]] with pinnate venation, [[flower]]s in the form of [[catkin]]s, and [[fruit]] in the form of [[Nut (fruit)|nuts]], one to seven in a scale or spiny husk that may or may not enclose the nut. The best-known group of this family is the [[oak]]s, genus ''Quercus'', the fruit of which is called an [[acorn]]. The husk of the acorn in most oaks only forms a cup in which the nut sits.

==Genera==
*''[[chestnut|Castanea]]'' - Chestnuts; eight species, north temperate east Asia, southwest Asia, southeast Europe, eastern North America
*''[[Castanopsis]]'' - about 125-130 species, southeast [[Asia]]
*''[[Chrysolepis]]'' - Golden chinkapin; two species, western [[United States|USA]]
*''[[Colombobalanus]]'' - one species ''C. excelsa'', northern South America, often included in ''Trigonobalanus''
*''[[Cyclobalanopsis]]'' - about 150 species, southeast [[Asia]]
*''[[beech|Fagus]]'' - Beeches; 10 species, north temperate east Asia, southwest Asia, Europe, eastern North America
*''[[Formanodendron]]'' - one species ''F. doichangensis'', southeast Asia, often included in ''Trigonobalanus''
*''[[Lithocarpus]]'' - Tanoaks or Stone oaks; about 330-340 species, all but one in warm temperate to tropical Asia, the one (''L. densiflorus'') in [[California]] and southwest [[Oregon]]
*''[[oak|Quercus]]'' - Oaks; about 500 species, widespread [[Northern Hemisphere]], crossing the [[equator]] in [[Indonesia]]
*''[[Trigonobalanus]]'' - one species ''T. verticillata'', tropical southeast [[Asia]] (three species if ''Colombobalanus'' and ''Formanodendron'' included)

The genus ''[[Nothofagus]]'' (Southern beeches; about 35 species from the Southern Hemisphere), formerly included in the Fagaceae, is now treated in the separate family [[Nothofagaceae]].

==References==
*[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=10338 Flora of China: Fagaceae]
*[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10338 Flora of North America: Fagaceae]

[[Category:Fagaceae| ]]
[[Category:Plant families]]
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