2002 



ARBORETUM AND FHUTICETUM. 



PART 111 



i a 2 C. pu'mila Wi/hl. 



The Dwarf Clicstmit, or Chincapin. 



Mill. Diet.. No. 2.; N. 



JiU-nlification. VVilia. Sj.. PI., 4. p. 461.; Miihx. Amer., 2. p. 193. ; Mill. Diet., No. 2.; N. Du 



Ham., iii. p. 79 

 Synimynus. Kigus pfimila Lin. Sp. PI., UK., Gron. t'irf;., I.W., Du Iloy Harbk., 1. p. 27">., 



Hang. Amrr., .W. t. 19. f. 44 , Ahl><>tt Insect., 2. p. 113. t. 5?.: Castanca nijmila virRini&n.n, &«. 



P/iik. Aim , W., Cat. Car., 1. p. 9. t. 9., Da Ham. Arb., 3. ; Chataigiier Chincapin, /->. ; rwcrch 



Kastanic; or Castanje, Gcr. 

 Engravings. Wang. Amer., 57. t. 19. f. 44. ; Alib. Ins., 2. t. 57. ; Cat. Car., 1. t. 9. ; Pluk. Aim., 



90. t. 1.5»;. f. 2.; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., .3. t. 105.; our flg. VJ-Zi. from Michaux ; andyi^. 1928. 



from the tree in the Horticultural Society's Garden. 



Spec. Char., S^c. Leaves oblong, acute, 

 imicronatcly serrated; covered witli 

 white toinentum beneath. {]Villd.) 

 A shrub, 7 ft. or 8 ft. hit^h, but some- ^ 

 times attaining the size of a tree 

 30 ft. or 40 ft, high. It is a native Vn 

 of North America, where it forms a 

 shrub rarely exceeding the height of 

 7 ft. or 8 ft. in New Jersey, Delaware, 

 and Maryland ; though in Soutii Ca- 

 rolina, Georgia, and Lower Louisi- 

 ana, it is sometimes 30 ft. or 40 ft. 

 high, with a trunk from 12in.to 15in. 

 in diameter. The leaves are 3 in. 

 or 4 in. long, sharply toothed, and a,*2 

 similar in form to tho.'^e of the C. v. ^i. 

 amcricana ; from which they are dis- %: 

 tinguislied by their inferior size, and 

 the whiteness of their under surface. 

 The fructification also resembles that 



of C. V. americana in form and arrangement ; but the flowers ami fruit are 

 only about half as large, and the nut is convex on both sides. {Michaux.) 

 The chincapin is bounded to the northward, in America, Michaux adds, 

 by the eastern shore of the river Delaware, on which it is found to the 

 distance of 100 miles from 

 Cape May. It is more com- 

 mon in Maryland, and still 

 more so in the lower part of 

 Virginia, in the Carolinas, 

 (oorgia, thu Floridas, and ^; . 

 Louisiana, as far as the river V, 

 Arkansas. In West Ten- 

 nessee, it is frequent in the ,^ 

 prairies enclosed in the - 

 forests ; and it abounds 

 throughout the southern ^. 

 states, wherever the common i^- 

 American chestnut is wanting. 

 The wood, Michaux informs 

 us, is more compact, heavier, 

 and finer-grained, than that 

 of the American chestnut ; 

 and, as posts, it will last in 

 the eartli more than 40 years. The saplings, however, become loaded 

 " with branches while they arc no thicker than the finger, and are thus 

 rendered too knotty for hoops." The fruit, which is about the size of the 

 wild hazel, is brought to market in America, and is eaten raw by children. 

 Tile tree requires a cool and fertile soil, with a mild climate; as, even in 

 the south of the United States, it becomes stunted when it grows in arid 

 lantl, and docs not exceeil the height of Gft. or 7 ft. ; it is, however, one of 

 the most common shrubs in the southern states of North America, as it 





V.Uh 



