Tas. 4953. 
CASTANEA cHRYSOPHYLLA. 
Golden-leaved Chestnut. 
Nat. Ord. CuruLrrer®.—Monecra OcTanpRIA. 
Gen. Char. Flores monoici v. rarissime hermaphroditi. Masc. indefinite glo- 
merati, raches axillares circumsedentes, rarius solitarii, bracteolati. Perigonium 
calycinum profunde 5-6-partitum. Stamina 8~15, basi perigonii cirea discum 
glandulosum inserta ; flamenta filiformia, elongata, simplicia ; anthere 2-loculares, 
incumbentes, Joculis oppositis. Fam. et HErmapHr. Gemme axillares, subsoli- 
tarie, bracteis plurimis linearibus, inzequalibus, cum involucro campanulato 1~3- 
floro connatis. Perigonii limbus superus, 5—8-fidus. Stamina 5-12, seepissime 
abortiva, minima. Ovarium inferum, 3-6-loculare. Ovuda in loculis solitaria, 
€x apice anguli centralis pendula, anatropa. Stylus brevissimus, crassus : stig- 
mata \oculorum numero, setiformia, patentia. Fructus capsuliformis, involucro 
coriaceo echinato, nuculis duabus, tribus v. unica feeto. _ Nucule ovato-trigone 
v. subangulatze, monosperme ; epicarpio coriaceo, endocarpio fibroso. Semen 
pendulum ; ¢es¢a membranacea, plicis intra nuclei rimas sese insinuans. Himdryo 
exalbuminosus, orthotropus ; cotyledonidus maximis crassis farinaceis, sepe inz- 
qualibus, plicatis, arcte coheerentibus ; radicula immersa supera.—Arbores », ar- 
busculee elegantes, in Europa australi, Asia media, in America boreali et in excelsis 
Archipelagi Moluccani montibus indigene ; foliis alternis integerrimis v. serratis, 
floribus coetaneis. Endl. 
CasTaNzEA chrysophylia ; foliis sempervirentibus oblongo-ovatis acuminatis co~ 
riaceis integerrimis glabris subtus aureo-farinosis. 
Castanua chrysophylla. Dougl. in Hook. F?. Bor. Am. v. 2. p. 159, Hook. in 
Lond. Journ. of Bot. v. 2 (843), p. 496. 
__ One of the greatest rarities perhaps in the Arboretum of the 
Royal Gardens of Kew, is the subject of the present Plate,—a 
Chestnut with the under side of the leaves of a pale golden hue, 
occasioned by the presence of innumerable minute peltate scales 
of that colour. Specimens of the plant probably exist in the 
_ herbaria of many botanists ; for the tree was discovered so long 
ago as 1830, by Mr. David Douglas, about the grand rapids of 
the Columbia (Oregon), Cape Orford, and near Mount Hood, in 
North-west America, constantly inhabiting the hills; and it has 
since been found by travellers in California, especially by Burke 
and Hartweg, and these collectors were able to send seeds to 
- DECEMBER Ist, 1856. 
