CHESTNUT (Castanea dentata, Borkh.) . 60 to 100 feet. Sym- 

 metrical, thick-topped tree with oblong head above stocky 

 trunk, covered with gray-brown bark, in scaly flat ridges, 

 between shallow fissures. Wood coarse-grained, brown, 

 weak, but durable in contact with soil. Used for posts, 

 railroad ties, and for furniture and inside finish of houses. 

 Buds plump, set askew on the brown twigs. Leaves alter- 

 nate, 6 to 8 inches long, narrow, tapering, saw-toothed, 

 strongly ribbed, short-stemmed, turning yellow in fall. Flow- 

 ers monoecious, July; stamina te in yellow, spike-like catkins, 

 4 to 6 inches long; pistillate solitary or few in cluster at base 

 of new shoot, green, prickly, with spreading, forked stigmas. 

 Fruit 2 or 3 smooth thin-shelled nuts in spiny bur that parts 

 when ripe into 4 valves. Dist. : Southern Maine to Michigan; 

 south to Delaware and Indiana; on mountains to Alabama and 

 Mississippi. Valuable for shade and ornamental planting, 

 for lumber and nuts. 



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