CASTANOSPKKMt'M. 



CATALPA. 



account Chestnuts are extensively uMd u food in the countries where 

 the tree abounds. In all Spain, the southern parts of France, Italy, 

 and the adjacent countries. Sweet Chestnuts, either raw, or reacted, 

 or ground into flour, or prepared in some other way, form a common 

 article of diet U U howerer not the wild C'attmua which furnishes 

 the nut* that are principally consumed in the south of Europe, and 

 exclusively exported to more northern countries, but a number of 

 cultirated varieties, the nuU of which are larger, and the seeds 

 tweeter ; of these the most remarkable are the Corive, the Ganiaude, 

 the Kgalade, and the Harron Coruu of the south of France. The 

 Sweet Chestnut is a native of all the southern parts of Europe, 

 extending eastward to the Caucasus, beyond which it hardly passes 

 in Asia. In North America it occurs wild in great abundance in the 

 hilly and mountainous parts of Virginia, the two Carolina*, and 

 Georgia, as well as other districts, not however reaching beyond New 

 Hampshire to the north. Michaux distinguishes the American from 

 the European Chestnut as a peculiar species, but hardly upon sufficient 

 grounds. It is always included as a wild plant in our English Floras, 

 but upon no sort of authority. It is said indeed that its timber forms 

 a considerable part of our oldest buildings, and that it has been 

 ascertained to be the material out of which were constructed the 

 ancient piles that have from time to time been taken from the Thames, 

 the roof of Westminster Abbey, the church of St. Nicholas at Great 

 Yarmouth, erected in the reign of William Rufus, and the timbers of 

 other places; but these statements have arisen from the singular 

 mistake of confounding the timber of Quercut leuilijtora with that of 

 Cattaiua retca ; it is to the former that are to be referred all the 

 supposed cases of ancient chestnut wood found in English buildings. 

 [QuEBCUs.1 The Sweet Chestnut in its wild state acquires an unusual 

 size. On jEtna, where it constitutes forests, there are trees of great 

 antiquity, one of which, called the Hundred-Horse Chestnut, from 

 its being able to contain a hundred mounted men in its hollow, has or 

 had a circumference of above 160 feet ; and in the <U-].artim-nt of the 

 Cher, near Sancerre, there is still standing a tree of this species, which 

 at 6 feet from the ground measures more than 30 feet in circum- 

 ference, and is to all appearance still sound. It is stated that 600 

 years ago this was called the Great Chestnut-Tree, and its actual age 

 U computed at 1000 years. The wood of the chestnut is well suited 

 for paling or piles, as it resists well the influence of water ; it is also 

 used for mill-timber and for water-works, but it is not in this country 

 of much importance. 



Several varieties are cultivated in this country, among which are a 

 sh|ning-leaved, a variegated, and a cut-leaved sort; they are multiplied 

 by grafting on the common Sweet Chestnut. 



C. pumila, the Chinquapin-Nut, is a shrub rather than a tree, 

 with leaves hoary on the underside, and small sweet nuts. It is a 

 native of the United States of North America, especially in damp 

 mountainous situations on a gravelly soil. 



There are other species in India and on the west coast of North 

 America. 



CASTANOSPETIMUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural 

 order Leyttminota. The only known species of this genus is described 

 as forming a tree from 30 to 40 feet high in the forests near Horeton 

 Bay in Australia. It has unequally-pinnated leaves, with elliptical 

 ovate acuminate entire smooth leaflets. The flowers are papiliona- 

 ceous, and bright saffron-yellow. The pods are large, solitary, and 

 pendulous, produced by the two-years' -old wood, obtuse, rather 

 inflated, and containing from 3 to 5 large chestnut-like seeds. The 

 shade afforded by the foliage is said to excel that of most Australian 

 trees. By the natives the seeds are eaten on all occasions : they have 

 when roasted the flavour of a Spanish chestnut, and travellers assert 

 that Europeans who have subsisted upon them have experienced no 

 other unpleasant effect than a slight pain in the bowels, and that 

 only when the seeds are eaten raw. They are however hard, 

 astringent, and not at all better than acorns. (Hooker, Botanical 



CA'STNIA, a genus of Lepidopterous Insects. [SpHisoiD-E.] 



CASTOR. [BiAVEB,] 



CASTOR, a colourless, transparent, feldspar-like mineral from Elba. 

 Its hardness U 6-5 and specific gravity 2'88 to 2'4. It has the follow- 

 ing composition : 



Silica 78-0 



Alumina . 18-9 



Oxide* of Iron and Manganese . . .1-6 

 I.itliia, Potash, and Soda . 2'8 



CASTOREUM. JBAVXR.) 



CASUARINA'CE^E, a natural order of Incomplete Kxogens, 

 whose branches are in all cases long, drooping, green, and wiry, with 

 very small scale-like sheaths, in the room of leaves. The flowers are 

 unisexual, and disposed in verticillate spikes ; they have neither calyx 

 nor corolla, are monandrous, and their ovaries are lenticular, with a 

 solitary erect ovule. The fruit consists of hardened bracts, inclosing 

 the small fruits, which are winged. This very small family, which is 

 exclusively Asiatic, Australasian, and Polynesian, is allied toMyricacta 

 and liftulactir. In habit and in their striated stems Catuarinacar are 

 like the arborescent species of fyuitrtum. The timber of some species 

 forms the Beef- Wood of the New South Wales colonists, and is of 

 excellent quality. The young branches and cones of Cantarina 



i/uadriralrit, the She-Oak, when chewed yield a pleasant acid. Cattle 

 are said to be fond of them. The only genus is Catuarina, of whu-li 

 about 20 species have been described. 



The She-Oak (Qauanaa qtiattriralru'j. 



U 



1, Male flowera ; 2, one of the name ; 3, bract.* ; 4, male flower, without its 

 bracts ; 5, female flowers ; 6, section of the same ; 7, one of the same ; 6, sec. 

 tion of the cone; 9, capsule; 10, the same opened; 11, section of the ame ; 

 12,abractea; 13, seed; 14, section of the same ; 15, seed without an em . 

 16, embryo. 



CAT. [FELTOJS.] 



CATABRO'SA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order of 

 Grasses, and to the tribe Feitucinat of that order. It has unequal 

 very short glumes, rounded or truncate, without lateral ribs, much 

 shorter than the spikelet ; the flowera usually two, rounded on the 

 back, distant ; the outer palea membranous, with three ribs eudiug 

 in teeth, which do not quite extend to the summit, and are connected 

 by the scarious margin ; the styles terminal ; the upper glume has 

 two very short faint lateral nerves, the awn absent. This is a genus 

 formed by Palisot de Beauvois, and adopted by Babington in his 

 ' Manual of British Botany.' The only British species is the C. aqua- 

 tica ; it has an equal panicle, with half-whorls of patent- branched, 

 and obtuse broadly linear leaves. It is found in ponds and ditches 

 and wet sands. (Babington, Manual of Brit. Bot.) 



CATALPA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 lliynoniwar. It has a 2-parted calyx ; campanulate corolla, with a 

 ventricoee tube, and an unequal 4-lobed limb ; 6 stamens, two of 

 which are fertile, the other three sterile; the stigma bilunicllate ; 



