The Trees of Vermont 1<>^) 



FAGACEAE 



Chestnut 



Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. [Castanea vesca, v. americana 

 jMichx.] [Castanea sativa, v. americana Sarg.] 



Habit. — A tree 60-80 feet high, forming a short, straight trunk 

 2-4 feet in diameter, divided not far above the ground into several 

 stout, horizontal limbs and forming a broad, open, rounded crown. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 6-8 inches long, 2-3 inches broad ; 

 oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed at the apex ; coarsely serrate with stout, 

 incurved, glandular teeth ; thin ; dull yellow-green above, lighter be- 

 neath, glabrous ; petioles short, stout, puberulous. 



Flowers. — July, after the leaves ; monoecious ; the staminate cat- 

 kins 6-8 inches long, slender, puberulous, bearing 3-7-flowered cymes 

 of yellow-green flowers; calyx 6-cleft, pubescent; stamens 10-20; the 

 androgynous catkins 2^-5 inches long, puberulous, bearing 2-3 prickly 

 involucres of pistillate flowers near their base; calyx campanulate, 

 6-lobed ; styles 6. 



Fruit. — Ripens in autumn ; round, thick, prickly burs, about 2 

 inches in diameter, containing 1-3 nuts; nuts compressed, brownish, 

 coated with whitish down at the apex ; sweet and edible. 



Winter-buds. — Terminal bud absent; lateral buds ^4 inch long, 

 ovoid, acute, brownish. 



Bark. — Twigs lustrous, yellow-green, becoming olive-green and 

 finally dark brown ; old trunks gray-brown, with shallow fissures and 

 broad, flat ridges. Plate IV. 



Wood. — Light, soft, coarse-grained, weak, easily split, very durable 

 in contact with the soil, red-brown, with very thin, lighter colored sap- 

 wood. 



Distribution. — Frequent in the Connecticut valley as far north 

 as Bellows Falls and in southwestern Vermont ; occasional as far north 

 as Windsor, West Rutland, Leicester, Burlington, Colchester and 

 Stowe. Planted as far north as Franklin. 



Habitat. — Rocky woods and hillsides. 



Notes. — The chestnut probably will grow in all parts of Vermont. 

 It is a rapid grower and lives to a great age but is subject to a disease 

 which threatens extermination in this country. The leaves are shiny 

 and graceful, from six to eight inches long. When they are nearly 

 growm, long, stiff catkins of fragrant, greenish-yellow flowers appear. 

 These bear the pollen, the ovule-bearing flowers being smaller, enclosed 

 in bur-like scales. The nuts, two or three in a bur, ripen in October. 



