THE CHESTNUT. 175 



says, was, in 1597, a "rare exotic," yet 250 years have 

 sufficed so thoroughly to naturalize it, that few persons are 

 aware that it is really of foreign origin. Three times that 

 space of time may have elapsed between the introduction 

 of the Chestnut and the first mention of a British speci- 

 men; so that even if Eitz-Stephen had told us that the 

 forest near London consisted of these trees, it would not 

 necessarily follow that they were not descended from, trees 

 originally introduced. That they did not exist in great 

 quantities may, I think, be inferred from the fact that the 

 produce, with the exception of a tithe, was considered so 

 important as to be reserved by the king. Had the tree 

 been, as Evelyn surmises, abundant near London, the 

 Forest of Dean would scarcely have been laid under con- 

 tribution ; the fact, therefore, that Chestnuts are men- 

 tioned at all would afford evidence rather that they were 

 rare and consequently valuable, than that they were 

 common forest trees. 



On the whole then we may, I think, with reason con- 

 clude that the Chestnut, though long naturalized in Eng- 

 land, is not an aboriginal native, but was introduced 

 probably by the Eomans at a very early period, and in 

 process of time propagated itself so widely as to have 

 raised a doubt whether it was not a really native tree. 

 Its history may be briefly told as follows. It was first 

 introduced into Europe by the Greeks from Sardis in Asia 

 Minor, whence it was called the "Sardian nut," 1 and at 

 a later period, "Jupiter's nut,'" 2 and "husked nut" from 

 its being inclosed in a husk or rind instead of a shell. 

 Loudon, and several other authorities, from a misconcep- 

 tion of a passage in Pliny, or, more likely, from quoting 

 it at second hand, attribute the introduction of this tree 

 into Italy to Tiberius Caesar a gross inaccuracy, for it is 

 evident from the writings of Virgil that Chestnuts were 

 abundant in Italy long before the time of that emperor. 

 By the Romans it was called Castanea, from Castanum, a 



1 Sardianus balanus. PLIN. * Aibs jSaAcw/os. THEOPH. 



