CHAPTER V. 



THE CHESTNUT. 



Castanea, Tournefort. The ancient classical name 

 derived either from Castanis, a town in Thessaly, or one 

 in Pontius, as historians disagree in regard to its deriva- 

 tion. The genus belongs to the order Cupuliferce. 



Male flowers irregularly clustered in long, naked, 

 cylindrical catkins from the axils of the leaves and on 

 the new shoots of the season. Calyx five or six parted ; 

 stamens or pollen-bearing organs seven to fifteen ; an- 

 ther two-celled. On old, mature trees, the male catkins 

 are usually crowded near the end of the short new twigs, 

 as shown in Fig. 12, the terminal one productive ; but 

 on young thrifty trees, wide apart. Female flowers 

 always on and near the base of a late-developed male 

 catkin, sometimes two or three together, or even six or 

 eight on the chinquapins, oval or ovoid, scaly, prickly, 

 two- to f our- valved involucre or bur; calyx usually with 

 a four- to six-lobed border crowning the three- to seven- 

 celled ovary ; stigmas bristle-shaped, and as many in 

 number as there are cells in the ovary. Shell of the nut 

 leathery, not brittle, ovoid, two or more together in the 

 larger species, in others solitary, or only one in a bur. 

 Kernel very thick, fleshy, and somewhat plaited, sweet 

 and edible. 



Both male and female flowers appear late in spring, 

 the males usually exceedingly so, exhaling a slightly nau- 

 seating odor. The productive male catkins appear the 

 latest, their base becoming the rachis or stalk support- 

 ing the burs, this rather anomalous arrangement appear- 



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