GENUS i. 



BEECH FAMILY. 



615 



1. Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. American Beech. Fig. 1511. 



Feigns americana latifolia Muench. Hausv. 5: 162. 



1770. 



Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. Beytr. Naturk. 3: 22. 1788. 

 Fagus ferruginea Ait. Hort. Kew. 3: 362. 1789. 

 Fagus americana Sweet, Hort. Brit. 370. 1826. 

 F. grandifolia caroliniana Fernald & Rehder, Rho- 



dora 9 : 114. 1907. 



A large forest tree, with maximum height of 

 about 120, and a trunk diameter of 4^, the lower 

 branches spreading. Leaves ovate, ovate-oblong 

 or oblong-obovate, firm, acuminate at the apex, 

 obtuse, subcordate or narrowed at the base, 2'-^' 

 long, i '-3' wide, densely silky when young, gla- 

 brous or somewhat pubescent when mature, green 

 on both sides, not shining, rather coarsely ser- 

 rate; petioles 2"-6" long; heads of staminate 

 flowers 6"-g" in diameter, hanging on peduncles 

 i '-3' long; bur 6"-io" high, densely tomentose, its 

 soft, long or short prickles recurved or spreading; 

 nut brown ; seed sweet. 



In rich soil, Nova Scotia to Ontario, Minnesota, 

 Missouri, Florida and Texas. Wood hard, strong, 

 tough, close-grained ; color light or dark red ; weight 

 43 Ibs. per cubic foot. April-May. Nuts ripe Sept. 

 Oct. Leaves of seedlings and young shoots are sometimes pinnatifid. Red or white beech. 



2. CASTANEA (Tourn.) Hill, Brit. Herbal 509. 1756. 



Trees or shrubs, with serrate straight-veined leaves, their teeth sharply acuminate. 

 Flowers appearing after the leaves, the staminate in erect or spreading, narrowly cylindric, 

 interrupted axillary yellowish aments, several in the axil of each bract, the bracts fugacious, 

 the pistillate borne in prickly involucres at the bases of the staminate aments or in separate 

 axils. Staminate flowers 2-bracteolate, consisting of a mostly 6-lobed campanulate perianth 

 and numerous stamens, sometimes also with an abortive ovary ; filaments filiform, long- 

 exserted. Pistillate flowers 2-5 (commonly 3) in each involucre, consisting of an urn-shaped 

 6-lobed perianth adnate to the mostly 6-celled ovary, and usually with 4-12 abortive stamens; 

 ovules 2 in each cavity, I ovule only of each ovary usually maturing; styles as many as the 

 cavities of the ovary, slender, exserted; stigmas minute. Pistillate involucre enlarging and 

 becoming a globose mostly 4-valved very prickly bur in fruit, enclosing i-several nuts. Nut 

 rounded or plano-convex, i-seeded, the shell coriaceous. Seed large, sweet. Style mostly 

 persistent. [Name Greek, from a city in Thessaly.] 



Four or five species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Besides the following, another occurs 

 in the southeastern United States. Type species : Castanea vulgaris Hill. 



Leaves green on both sides; nuts usually 2-5 in each involucre; large tree. i. C. dentata. 



Leaves densely white-tomentose beneath ; nut usually solitary ; shrub or small tree. 2. C. pumila. 



i. Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. Ameri- 

 can Chestnut. Fig. 1512. 



Fagus Castanea dentata Marsh. Arb. Am. 46. 1785. 



Castanea dentata Borkh. Handb. Forstb. i : 741. 1800. 



C. vesca var. americana Mich^. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 193. 1803. 



A large forest tree, with gray bark rough in longitu- 

 dinal plates, reaching a maximum height of about 100 

 and a trunk diameter of 14 ; lower branches spreading. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, firm, acuminate at 

 the apex, narrowed or rounded at the base, coarsely 

 serrate, with very sharp-pointed ascending teeth, rather 

 dark green above, lighter beneath, 5'~ 12 ' lon g- ii'-3' 

 wide; petioles stout, '-:' long; staminate aments^ erect, 

 numerous, borne solitary in the upper axils, 6' -12' long, 

 4"-S" in diameter; burs ii'-4' in diameter, solitary or 

 2-4 together, enclosing 1-5 nuts; nuts puberulent, dark 

 brown, plano-convex or angled on the face, or when 

 solitary ovoid. 



In rich soil, Maine and Ontario to Michigan, Georgia and 

 Arkansas. Wood coarse-grained, durable, brown ; weight 

 per cubic foot 28 Ibs. Involucre sometimes suppressed and 

 the nuts naked. June-July. Nuts ripe Sept.-Oct. Sardian 

 nut. Prickly bur. 



