NANTUCKET TREES 27 



The American chestnut, Castanea dentata (Marsh.) 

 Borkh., is first cousin to oak and beech and thus com- 

 pletes the trilogy of the beech family. I include its 

 mention here for the sake of completeness but it is only 

 doubtfully established on the island. Bicknell wrote in 

 1908, "A single slender sapling of the American chestnut, 

 Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. ,.. .grows in an opening 

 among the pines near Miacommet Pond." 4 Bassett Jones 

 reports that he and E. L. Littlef ield, Supervisor of 

 Forestry Investigations, New York State, found Bicknell' s 

 single chestnut several years ago. It was then infected 

 by the chestnut blight. 29 Charles Kimball saw a few 

 poor chestnut trees in the same locality four years ago. 30 

 Today a scrubby specimen in the Larches shows the sucker 

 growth which follows chestnut blight destruction. 



We know that ash was introduced on Nantucket be- 

 fore 1908 as Bicknell records both the American species, 

 Fraxinus americana L., and the European species, Fraxinus 

 excel sior L. Both have prospered and increased. A row 

 which fronts the Casino in Siasconset contains the two 

 species. Two other species, the black ash, Fraxinus 

 nigra Marsh., and the green ash, Fraxinus vennsyl vanica 

 var. lanceolata Sarg., are found in Civic Park. 



The remaining tree species which might be listed 

 as town dwellers in Nantucket are a hit or miss collec- 

 tion. They seem the result either of an itinerant nursery- 

 man or of the individual fancies of- the householders. 

 The latter reason may explain the tamarisk shrub, 

 Tamarix varvi flora DC, near several houses on the Point 

 and in the Gordon yard on Lincoln Avenue. The latter 

 was planted about I89O by "William S. Kimball, the grand- 

 father of Charles Kimball. 3 The tamarisk is accustomed 

 to a sandy soil. We read that It "plays the role of 

 Juniper" where it is native "in southwestern Spain and 

 along the African coast from Tunisia, where an arm of 

 the Sahara reaches up to the sea. " 3 



In a vacant lot on Union Street, opposite the 

 Whiting Milk Office, there is a motley collection of 

 trees : a sycamore maple, a decrepit cherry, a tall 

 spruce, and two Kentucky coffee trees, Gymnocl adus 

 diotca Koch. Notwithstanding its name, the Kentucky 



