EXOGENOUS SERIES BROADLEAF WOODS. 63 



suggests chestnut and that is sometimes locally used for imple- 

 ments. The handsome evergreen leaves have golden under sur- 

 faces. The sweet hard-shelled nuts resemble filberts. The trees 

 are very beautiful and are fitted for landscape purposes. They 

 grow from Oregon to Central California. The Golden Chestnut, 

 which is the nearest native Pacific Coast approach to the Eastern 

 or American chestnut, is sometimes called the Evergreen Chestnut. 

 ^The American Chestnut (Castanea vulgaris) may be regarded 

 for its wood, its tanin and its fruit. The very durable wood is 

 one of the best of its range for fence- posts and mudsills. Hough 

 mentions a fence-rail that was good after having been exposed for 

 about one hundred years. This durability is largely due to the 

 presence of tannic acid fhat is so abundant as to be separated and 

 employed in tanning.*/ The nuts are finer and sweeter than 

 those produced by foreign species, yet American chestnut trees 

 are seldom cultivated for nuts. The Spanish, French and Italian 

 nuts are highly prized and are gathered as commercial crops. 

 The best of these nuts are imported or are eaten when fresh, the 

 others are dried and made into a flour that is used for bread 

 and cake. Some nuts are candied (marrons glaces). The Italian 

 government encourages the production of nuts by gratuitously 

 distributing young trees. f The American chestnut tree is equally 

 worthy of cultivation since it will grow rapidly on any soil within 

 its native areas. Its wood and its bi-products are likely always 

 to be in demand. 



The chestnut may be known by its large prickly burr, contain- 

 ing from one to three thin-shelled, triangular, wedge-shaped nuts. 

 Both chinquapins have prickly burrs containing one, or sometimes 

 two, sweet edible nuts. Three of the four known species of the 

 genus Castanea grow in North America, one the common chestnut 

 (Castanea vulgaris) ; another the Chinquapin (Castanea pumild) ; 

 the third a plant never attaining to the size of a tree. The 

 Chinquapin (Castanopsis chrysophylla) is the only North Amer- 

 ican representative of a genus including twenty-five species. 



* Chestnut leaves are sometimes made into a tea, employed in connect.o with 

 whooping cough. (U. S. Dispensatory.) 



tPenn. Dept. Forestry Statement, 1901, 1902. p. 93, 101. " Chest n at in 

 Southern Maryland," Zon. U. S. Forestry Bureau Bulletin No. 53. 



