THE CHESTNUT. 99 



and dark green above ; thicker and of more substance 

 than in any other species. Burs very large, with thick 

 husk, and long, stout, branching spines, from a woody 

 stem at the base ; shell of nut thick, tough and leathery, 

 of a dark mahogany brown ; kernel enclosed in a rather 

 tough but thin skin that is usually intensely bitter, a 

 characteristic that readily distinguishes this from any of 

 our species. Trees of large size, rather stocky ; young 

 shoots coarse, with smooth bark; buds prominent, 

 glossy, and of a light yellowish-brown color. 



CASTANEA JAPONICA (Japan chestnut). Leaves 

 lanceolate-oblong (Fig. 23), finely serrate, indentations 

 shallow, and the teeth slender pointed ; pale green above 

 and silvery or rusty white underneath. Burs with a 

 very thin husk ; spines short, widely branching from a 

 short stem. Nuts large to very large, usually three in a 

 bur ; shell thin, and of a light brown color ; the inner 

 skin thin, fibrous, but not as bitter as in the European 

 varieties, and the kernel somewhat finer grained and 

 sweeter. Trees of moderate growth and are said to rarely 

 exceed fifty feet high in Japan. The growth is slender 

 in comparison with the European or American chestnut, 

 and the habit is decidedly bushy, the new growth of the 

 season usually prodiicing a number of lateral twigs late 

 in summer. The leaves here seem to be more persistent, 

 probably because the season is not long enough to insure 

 thorough ripening. 



The reader will please bear in mind that this de- 

 scription of the Japan chestnut is drawn from the intro- 

 duced varieties or those raised from the imported nuts, 

 and not from the trees growing in their native habitats. 

 All the varieties that I have seen appear to belong to 

 one type or species, and they come from the warmer 

 parts of that country ; but Prof. Sargent, in his " Forest 

 Flora of Japan," says that while the largest nuts appear 

 in the markets of Kobe and Osaka, from whence they 



