BEECH FAMILY. 515 
1. Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. American Chestnut. (Fig. 1226.) 
Fagus Castanea dentata Marsh. Arb. Am. 46. 1785. 
Castanea dentata Borkh. Handb. Forstb. 1: 741. 1800. 
C. vesca var. Americana Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 193. 1803. 
A large forest tree, with gray bark rough in longitudinal 
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 
aboye, lighter beneath, 5’-12/ long, 114/—3/ wide; petioles 
stout, %/-1’ long; staminate aments erect, numerous, 
borne solitary in the upper axils, 6/-12’ long, 4/’—5’’ in di- 
ameter; burs 114/—4’ in diameter, solitary or 2-4 together, 
enclosing I-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 and Ten- 
nessee. Wood coarse-grained, durable, brown; weight per 
cubic foot 28 ibs. Involucre sometimes suppressed and the 
nuts naked. June-July. Nuts ripe Sept.—Oct. 
2. Castanea pumila (1,.) Mill. Chinquapin. 
(Fig. 1227.) 
Fagus pumila V,. Sp. Pl. 998. 1753. 
Castanea pumila Mill. Gard. Dict. Ed. 8, no. 2. 1768. 
A shrub or small tree, sometimes 45° high and with 
a trunk 3° in diameter, the young shoots puberulent. 
Leaves oblong, acute at both ends, sharply serrate with 
ascending or divergent teeth, dark green and glabrous 
above, densely white-tomentulose beneath, 3/—6/ long, 
1/-2'%5’ wide; staminate aments erect or somewhat 
spreading, 3-5’ long, 3’’-4’’ in diameter; burs 14’ in 
diameter or less, commonly spicate, enclosing a soli- 
tary ovoid brown nut (rarely 2); seed very sweet. 
In dry soil, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to Indiana, 
Florida and Texas. Wood strong, coarse-grained, dark 
brown; weight per cubic foot 37 lbs. June. Nuts ripe Sept. 
3. QUERCUS L. Sp. Pl. 994. 
Trees or shrubs, with pinnatifid lobed dentate crenate or entire leaves, deciduous or in 
some species persistent. Flowers very small, green or yellowish, appearing with or before 
the leaves, the staminate numerous in slender mostly drooping aments, the pistillate soli- 
tary in many-bracted involucres borne on the twigs of the preceding season or on the young 
shoots. Staminate flowers subtended by caducous bracts, consisting of a mostly 6-lobed 
campanulate perianth and 6-12 stamens with filiform filaments, sometimes also with an abor- 
tive pilose ovary. . Pistillate flowers with an urn-shaped or oblong calyx, adnate to a mostly 
3-celled ovary; ovules 2 in each cavity of the ovary, rarely more than I in each ovary matur- 
ing; stvles as many as the ovary-cavities, short, erect or recurved. Fruit consisting of the 
imbricated and more or less united bracts of the involucre (cup), subtending or nearly enclos- 
ing the ovoid, oblong or subglobose 1-seeded coriaceous nut (acorn). [The ancient Latin 
name, probably of Celtic derivation, signifying ‘‘ beautiful tree.’’] 
About 200 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Besides the following, some 30 others 
occur in the western and southern sections of North America. 
LLY 
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\ NeX : 
% Leaves or their lobes bristle-tipped, deciduous, acorns maturing in autumn of second year. 
+ Leaves pinnatifid or pinnately lobed. 
Leaves green on both sides. 
Cup of the acorn saucer-shaped, much broader than high. 
Cup 8'’-12'’ broad; acorn ovoid; leaves dull. 
Cup 4''-8"’ broad; leaves shining. 
. O. rubra. 
Acorn subglobose or short-ovoid; northern. 2. O. palustris. 
Acorn ovoid; southern. 3. QO. Texana. 
Cup of the acorn turbinate or hemispheric. 
Inner bark gray; leaves shining both sides. 4. QO. coccinea. 
Inner bark orange; leaves pubescent in the axils of the veins beneath. 5. O. velutina. 
Leaves white or gray-tomentulose beneath. 
Large tree; leaf-lobes lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, long. 
€ O. digitata. 
Shrub or low tree; leaf-lobes triangular-ovate, short. 
QO. nana, 
ud 
