842 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



in the west and the Bihar Mountains in Transylvania. According, however, to 

 Fliche, 1 it is not truly wild in any part of France nor even in Corsica, as it never 

 forms part of the real forests and is generally found either as coppice or as isolated 

 trees planted by man rather than as a true forest tree. 



In France it is common in Provence, Dauphine, the Cevennes, Perigord, 

 Limousin, and all the central plateau, and it fruits abundantly in the environs of Paris. 

 As in England, it was long supposed that there were large forests of chestnut in 

 ancient times, and it is popularly believed that the severe winter of 1 709 caused their 

 destruction in the region of the Loire. This is, however, an error, and the wood supposed 

 to be chestnut, occurring in ancient churches and other buildings at Troyes, Reims, 

 Sens, Chartres, and in Notre Dame at Paris has been conclusively proved to be oak. 2 

 The chestnut in France is rarely cultivated in high forest, as the timber is 

 very liable to shake and to rot at the heart, so that sound pieces of considerable 

 size are rarely obtained. It is, however, often cultivated as coppice, for use 

 as vine props and hoops for casks. Mathieu mentions a tree growing near 

 Sancerre in the department of Cher, which is 30 feet in girth and appears to be 

 perfectly sound. Mr. Chaumette 8 saw a chestnut in 1851 near Evian in Savoy, 

 which had a girth of 54 feet, was 85 feet high, wide-spreading and well-shaped, but 

 the trunk was perfectly hollow. 



The chestnut is truly wild in Spain, 4 and appears to attain there a greater 

 development than in any other country. In the north, as in the provinces of Galicia, 

 Asturias, and Biscaya, it constitutes forests of great extent, growing in company with 

 Quercus Toza, Q. sessiliflora and Q. pedunculated or occasionally with the beech, 

 and ascends from sea-level up to 2500 feet. It abounds in the mountains near 

 Avila ; and between Banos and Bejar there are vast woods in which it occurs 

 mixed with Quercus Suber. It also occurs in the mountains of Toledo and of 

 Estremadura and in the Sierra Morena. In the northern parts of Navarre and 

 Aragon, it ascends in the Pyrenees to 3000 feet. In the extreme south of Spain, it 

 no longer descends to sea-level, but forms a zone between 2 700 and 5400 feet altitude 

 in the Serrania de Ronda and the Sierra Nevada ; and small woods also occur on 

 the Alpujarras. The chestnut is also common in Portugal, and various localities 

 are mentioned for it by Colmeiro. 



In Italy the chestnut occurs throughout the Apennines and also in Sicily, 

 rising to 3000 or 4000 feet elevation ; and pure woods are found, especially in 

 Tuscany. The most celebrated tree of this species, the Castagno di Cento Cavalli, 

 growing on Mount Etna, was visited by Brydone 5 in 1770, who found it to be a 

 hollow shell, which looked rather like a group of five trees growing together than a 

 single tree. Brydone made its girth 204 feet. This ruin has lately been seen by 

 Mr. Druce 6 of Oxford, who found four distinct parts still remaining, three of which 



1 Cf. Fliche, in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, liv. 132 (1907), concerning the recent discovery of chestnut charcoal at a 

 prehistoric station in the department of Dordogne. Dr. Christ, in Flore de la Suisse, suppl. 48 (1907), discusses the question 

 of the distribution of the chestnut, and now agrees with Engler (Ber. Schweis. Bot. Ges. xi. 81) that it is not truly wild in 

 Switzerland, either in the Jura or in the Alps. 



' Mathieu, Flore Forestiire, 328, 329 (1897). 3 Phytologist, iv. 71 (1851). 



4 Cf. Willkomm et Lange, Prod. Fl. Hispanica, i. 246 (1861) ; and Willkomm, Forstliche Flore, loc. cit. 



6 Brydone, A Tour through Sicily and Malta, i. 119 (1790). 6 Cf. Pharmac. Journ. Feb. 27, 1904, p. 258. 



