DODECANDRIA. TRIGYNTA. Fagus. 435 



. TRIGYNIA. 



FA'GUS. Male and female flowers on the same 



plant : Moss. none. 

 Male. Calyx 5-cleft : bell-shaped. 

 Fern. Calyx with 4 teeth, changing into a 



prickly 4-valved, 2-seeded capsule. 



F. Leaves spear-shaped, with tapering serratures, naked Casta'nea. 



underneath. 



Knipb. 5-Hunt. Evel. p. 15p. 1. p- 1-53. ed. ll.-MUL 84- 

 Tourn. 352-Nat. disp. ii. 30. at p. %90-Nat. del'tn* ii. 19. 

 3. at p. 31 2-Mattb. 21 1-Dod. 814. \~Lab. k. ii. l6f>. I 



2, andobs. 588. \-Ger. em. 1442. 1-ParL 1400. \-J.B. 



i. £. 121-G«™. 204-G^r. 1253. l-BIackw. 330-Fucbs. 

 377-Trag. UOQ-LoHic. i. 31. 1. 



Catkins cylindrical. Linn. Leaves ending in a long very- 

 taper point ; serratures ending in a kind of thorn. Mr. Woodw. 



Chesnut Tree. Woods and hedges, in Kent, common. [Bur* 

 leigh Park, in great abundance, Mr. Woodw.] T. May.* 



There is a cultivated variety with larger and more glossy 





els soluble, and to continue the medicine as long as any symptoms of the 

 disease remain. 



Sheep and goats eat it. Cows, horses, and swine iefuse it. Linn. 

 The flowers, fresh gathered, smell like apricots. 



* Nothing will thrive under its shade. — The wood is applicable to 

 the same uses that oak is. — If the bark is not taken off, it makes poles for 

 espaliers, dead fences and hop yards, and pipes to convey water under 

 ground, which will last longer than elm or oak. — Some of the oldest 

 buildings in London are said to be constructed with this wood. — At Tort- 

 worth, in Gloucestershire, there is a tree 52 feet round. It is proved to 

 have stood there ever since the year 1 15O, and was then so remarkable as 

 to be called the great Chesnut ofTortworth. It Axes the boundary of 

 the manor, and is probably near 1000 years old. Gent. Mag. 1766, p. 321, 

 where there is a drawing of it. Mr. Collinson, the author of this ac- 

 count, makes no doubt of the Chesnut being a native of England, and 

 assigns the great profit that arises from them when cut for hop-poles, as 

 the reason why it is so rare to see large trees in the woods. 



Mr. Marsham measured this tree in the year 17 59* at the height of 6 

 feet from the ground, where its girth was 46 feet 6 inches. He calculate* 

 that it cannot be less, probably much more, than 1100 years old, and that 

 it was 540 years old when John came to the throne, and would then mea- 

 sure 11 yards in circumference. BathSoc. 1. 



The nuts are used for whitening linen cloth, and for making starch. 

 They are roasted on small stoves in the streets by the fruit- women, and 

 In winter form a very agreeable addition to our desserts. They constitute 

 a great proportion of the food of the common people in the south of Eu. 

 rope ; and hogs feeding on them as they run wild in the forests, are reck- 

 • oned particularly excellent, 



F F 2 



