N. ORD.—_-CUPULIFERA: 158 
Tribe.—QUERCINEA. 
GENUS.—CASTANEA,* TOURN. 
SEX. SYST—MONCECIA POLYANDRIA. 
CASTANEA VESCA. 
CHESTNUT. 
SYN.—CASTANEA VESCA, LINN.; CASTANEA VESCA, VAR. AMERICANA, 
MICHX.; CASTANEA EDULIS, GAERTN. 
COM. NAMES.—CHESTNUT;; (FR.) CHATAIGNIER; (GER.) KASTANIE. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH LEAVES OF CASTANEA VESCA, VAR. AMERICANA, 
MICHX. 
Description.—This forest tree, highly esteemed for its timber and edible nuts, 
attains a growth of from 40 to 8o feet in height. The s¢em is deliquescent, from 
2 to 4 feet in diameter, and covered with a thick, corrugated bark, smoothish upon 
the corrugations ; branches thick, very irregular, and contorted. The wood com- 
mercially, is light and porous, having a sp. gr. of 404, and weighing but 25 lbs. 4 
oz. per cubic foot; on account of its durability it is valued principally for fencing. 
The /eaves are petiolate, oblong-lanceolate, coarsely serrate, pointed at the tip and 
acute at the base, from 4 to 9 inches long, and from 2 to 4 inches wide; they are 
particularly noticeable on account of their straight pinnate veins. /nflorescence 
cream-colored, moncecious, axillary upon the ends of the branches, and appearing 
after the leaves. Sterile flowers in irregularly placed clusters upon naked, subcyl- 
‘ndrical aments, that vary from 3 to 6 inches in length. Calyx generally 6-parted. 
Slamens 8 to 20; filaments slender ; anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers few, usually 
from 2 to 3 closely crowded in an involucre. /nvolucres ina cluster at the base of 
the aments, ovoid, thickly covered with spines. Calyx tubular with a bell-shaped 
6-lobed border, encircling the ovary in the form of a crown. Ovary 3 to 6-celled ; 
ovules 6 to 14; stigmas awned, equal in number to the cells of the ovary. Stamens 
5 or more, rudimentary, rarely perfect, longer than the calyx. fruit, a large, 
hard, thick, echinate, 4-valved bur, enclosing from 1 to 3 or more nuts, laterally 
flattened by compression, in shapes depending upon the number in the bur. 
Cupulifere.—Trees or shrubs with white, and generally firm, hard wood. 
Stipules caducous ; leaves alternate, pinnately veined. /n/lorescence upon the ends 
of the branches; flowers moncecious ; sterile flowers in catkins (except Fagus); 
fertile flowers solitary, grouped or spiked, furnished with a scaly or echinate cup 
or bur forming a receptacle for the nuts; calyx adherent to the ovary, the border — 
_ * Kéerava or KacSavaca, a city of Pontus, noted for its chestnut trees. © 
