II. 3. THE CHESTNUT. 163 



while young; when they are not narrowed at base, they are 

 strongly cordate. They are much larger than those of the 

 European, and longer in proportion to their breadth; and the 

 petiole, as well as the stalk of the fruit, is much less hairy. 

 The aspect of the two trees is nearly the same. In the Euro- 

 pean, the difference between the sap and the mature wood is 

 very slight ; in the American it is striking. I have retained 

 the specific name Sylvatica, as that by which our beech has 

 been generally known. 



There are several beautiful varieties of the European, prop- 

 agated by budding, grafting, or in-arching, which deserve the 

 attention of American arboriculturists. Among the most re- 

 markable, are the purple, or copper beech, and the weeping. 

 The original tree from which all the varieties of the former of 

 these have been propagated, is said to have been discovered, by 

 accident, in a wood in Germany, towards the end of the last 

 century, and it is supposed to be still standing. " In early spring, 

 when the leaves of the purple beech are agitated by the wind, 

 during bright sunshine, their clear red gives the tree the ap- 

 pearance of being on fire; an effect, Bosc observes, so truly 

 magical, that it is scarcely credible by those who have not seen 

 it." — Loudon. 



II. 3. THE CHESTNUT. CASTANEA, Toumefort. 



A genus containing a single European species, which is also 

 American, two dwarf species found in this country, an ever- 

 green species on the hills of Oregon, and several species lately 

 discovered in Nepal and Java, in Asia ; — with deciduous, alter- 

 nate, usually long, 'narrow and pointed leaves. The male flow- 

 ers are in long, showy, rigid, axillary aments, which appear 

 late, and soon fall ; the female in a bristling involucre, which 

 enlarges to a prickly bur, containing from one to three, smooth, 

 roundish, thin-shelled, farinaceous nuts. It has a near alliance 

 with the beech. 



