6 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



272. CASTANEA PUMILA, MILL. 



CHINQUAPIN. CHINKEPIN. 

 Ger., Kleine Castanie. Fr., Chincapin. Sp., Castano enano. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves narrow-oblong, 3-5 in. long, mostly acute at apex, 

 narrowed and wedge-shaped or rounded at base, coarsely serrate with slender pointed teeth, 

 tomentose at first, at maturity glabrous dark green above, whitish tomentose beneath; 

 petioles short stout and branchlets the first season pubescent. Floicers (June-July) 

 staminate aments 2-6 in. long, hoary-tomentose ; pistillate flowers at the bases of the 

 upper androgynous aments, sessile or nearly so. Fruit involucres 1-1^4 in. in diameter, 

 commonly in spike-like clusters, densely crowded with slender sharp spines outside, open- 

 ing generally by 2 or 3 valves and containing a single round-ovoid lustrous dark brown 

 nut pointed and white-pubescent at apex, '%-% in. long and containing a large sweet 

 seed naked at apex with scars of abortive ovules. 



The Chinquapin sometimes attains the height of 40 or 50 ft. (15 m.), and 

 such a tree may have a trunk diameter of 2 or 3 ft. (0.80 m.), with dark 

 grayish or reddish brown bark, fissured into long loose scales. When 

 isolated it develops a wide-spreading or rounded top, but only throughout a 

 comparatively small portion of its range does it attain the stature of a tree. 

 Elsewhere it is rather a shrub than a tree. 



HABITAT. From southern Pennsylvania to northern Florida and Texas, 

 occupying dry, gravelly slopes and ridges, as well as the rich bottom-lands. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very similar in properties and uses to 

 that of the allied Chestnut. It is light, moderately hard and strong, coarse- 

 grained, with very small medullary rays and numerous large open ducts 

 marking the annual layers of growth, durable in contact with the soil, and 

 of a yellowish brown color, with thin, lighter sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 

 0.5887; Percentage of Ash, 0.12; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.5880; Coefficient of Elasticity, 114108; Modulus of Rupture, 991; Re- 

 sistance to Longitudinal Pressure, -195; Resistance to Indentation, 118; 

 Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 36.69. 



USES. - - The durability of the wood in contact with the soil makes it 

 excellent for fence-posts, rails, railway ties, etc., and the delicious nuts 5 

 which are borne in abundance form a commodity in the markets of the 

 southern cities and villages. 



ORDER SALICACE-ffi : WILLOW FAMILY. 



Leaves alternate, simple, undivided and furnished with stipules, which are either scale- 

 like and deciduous, or leaf-like and persistent. F/o/rrr.s din'cimis. both kinds in catkins, 

 one under each bract or scale of the catkin and destitute of both calyx and corolla, or the 



