THE SWEET CHESTNUT. 



Casta'nea sati'va Mill. 



With but small claims to be considered a native 

 of the British Isles, the Sweet, or Spanish, Chest- 

 nut is so generally planted in woods, parks, and 

 shrubberies that it is as common and as familiar 

 to us as many of our more truly indigenous 

 species. 



Its name and origin are alike somewhat doubt- 

 ful. It is most abundant in an apparently wild 

 state in Southern Europe, extending eastward to 

 the Caucasus, and occurring in the islands of the 

 Mediterranean at moderate elevations above the sea. 

 A similar or identical form occurs in the mountains 

 of Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. There are 

 forests composed of this species in Alsace and 

 Rhenish Prussia; and it is common, though 

 possibly planted, in Normandy and around Paris. 

 Its fruit does not ripen fully every year with us ; 

 but this is by no means an infallible proof that 

 a species is not indigenous. 



The name occurs twice in the Authorised Ver- 

 sion of the Bible ; but there is little reason to sup- 

 pose that it is rightly employed, though no doubt 

 its starchy nuts must have been widely used for 

 food from the earliest times. The town of Kastana 

 in Thessaly is generally referred to as the source 

 of the Latin, if not of the Greek name : but, as 



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