139. CASTANOPSIS CHRYSOPHYLLA CALIFORNIA CHINQUAPIN. 41 



139. CASTANOPSIS CHRYSOPHYLLA, A. DO. 



CALIFORNIA CHINQUAPIN, EVERGREEN CHESTNUT. 



Ger., Calif or nianische Kastanie ; Fr., Chdtaignier de California; Sp., 

 Castana de California. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves evergreen, coriaceous, lanceolate to oblong, 1-4 in. 

 long, mostly acuminate at both ends and decurrent upon the short petiole, with 

 entire revolute margin, green, smoothish and with prominent reticulations above, 

 under-surface covered with minute golden yellow lobed scales. Stanimate aments 

 1-3 in. long, densely pubescent. Pistillate flowers with three stout glabrous, diverg- 

 ing styles. Fruit with involucre densely covered with stout subverticillate many- 

 branched sharp spines, i to 1 in. in length and nut usually solitary, about ^ in. long, 

 with triangular and obtusely-pointed apex. 



(The specific name, cJirysophylla, is from the Greek j/autfoS, gold, and tpvkXov, 

 leaf, alluding to the color of the under-surface of the leaf.) 



The Western Chinquapin is found fruiting abundantly as a mere shrub 

 of but a few feet in height, but under favorable conditions sometimes 

 attains the dimensions of 100 ft. (30 m.) in height, or more, with a trunk 

 2 or 3 ft. (0.90 m.) in diameter, and rather flat wide top of many 

 branches. The bark of trunk closely resembles that of the chestnut of 

 the east, being of a mottled gray color, and checked into firm longitu- 

 dinal ridges, on the summits of which persists for a long time the smooth 

 epidermis of the young bark. The handsome evergreen foliage of the 

 tree, with golden under-surfaces, gives it a peculiarly characteristic 

 aspect by which it may be at once recognized. In the latter part of 

 summer it may be seen in flower and with fruit in all stages of develop- 

 ment at the same time. 



HABITAT. Western Oregon and southward among the Coast Ranges 

 and along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San 

 Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains in southern California, reaching 

 its greatest development in northern California. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, not strong, compact, close- 

 grained, with obscure medullary rays and annual rings marked by a single 

 row of large open ducts. It is of a reddish-brown color with numerous 

 lines of dark-brown radiating from the center, which gives the radial sec- 

 tion of the heart-wood a peculiar mottled appearance. The abundant 

 sap-wood is brownish-white. Specific Gravity, 0.5574; Percentage of 

 Ash, 0.35; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.5554; Coefficient of 

 Elasticity, 101195; Modulus of Rupture, 741; Resistance to Longitudinal 

 Pressure, 435; Resistance to Identation, 119; Weight of a Cubic Foot in 

 Pounds, 34.74. 



USES. Occasionally used in the manufacture of agricultural imple- 

 ments, etc. The bark of the tree, though of little or no value for tan- 

 ning purposes, is sometimes fraudulently sold as that of the Tan-bark 

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