306 CASSIOPE CASTANEA 



leaves. Leaves in. long, arranged in four rows, so as to give the leaf-clothed 

 stem a four-angled shape; stalkless, concave in front, each one closely 

 appressed to the leaf above it ; furrowed behind, slightly downy. Flowers 

 sparsely borne at intervals along the younger parts of the stem during April 

 and May, and produced singly from the leaf-axils. Corolla nodding, white 

 tinged with red, bell-shaped, in. long ; calyx of five ovate divisions, green 

 tinged with red j flower-stalk decurved, little more than long enough to hold 

 the flower clear of the leaves. 



Native of the northern hemisphere, in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions ; 

 said to have been introduced from Lapland in 1810, and later from N. America. 

 It differs from C. fastigiata in the smaller flowers, and in the leaves being 

 without the silvery membranous margins, although slightly ciliated 



CASTANEA. CHESTNUTS. CUPULIFER.E. 



There appear to be about six species of chestnut known, but the 

 number varies much in consequence of the varying conception of their 

 specific limits. In any case they constitute a well-marked group of 

 deciduous trees and shrubs, with alternate, parallel-ribbed, conspicuously 

 toothed leaves, always approaching the oblong or narrow oval in shape. 

 The leaves of all the chestnuts have a strong family resemblance, and 

 have nothing like them among hardy trees except a few oaks. The 

 unisexual flowers are produced in long, slender catkins from the leaf-axils 

 of the young shoots during July. The lower catkins are entirely male ; 

 but from the axils of the later leaves there come shorter catkins, at the 

 base of which one to three female flowers are borne. The flowers of all 

 the chestnuts are pale yellow, and have little beauty of colour ; but a tree 

 well laden with catkins has a striking appearance, the enjoyment of which 

 to many people is spoilt by their heavy, unpleasant odour. The nuts are 

 always enclosed in the well-known prickly burs. 



The older botanists made C. dentata and C. crenata both forms of 

 C. sativa, which may have led to their not being introduced, and to their 

 present rarity. They are, however, distinct enough, especially as seen 

 in the living state, although it is not easy to make the distinctions very 

 clear on paper. It does not seem likely that any other than C. sativa 

 will be of much value in Britain either for timber or nuts, although the 

 variety "Paragon," sometimes grown, is considered to have the "blood" 

 of C. dentata in it. The ordinary C. sativa varies extraordinarily in the 

 size and quality of its nuts. There are numerous trees in Kew Gardens, 

 some of which bear large, excellent nuts and others that never produce 

 a nut worth eating. The merit of the better forms seems to be due 

 largely to their being able to suppress all but one of the three or four 

 nuts which each bur normally encloses. This enables the survivor to 

 develop into a fine nut. 



The chestnuts like a hot summer. Even during the driest and 

 hottest seasons, like that of 1911, one rarely sees any of this genus 

 suffering. They appear to thrive in any well-drained, loamy soil, even 

 of moderate quality, but are said to be averse to calcareous substances. 

 They should always be raised from seeds except in the case of the fine 

 fruiting forms, which are grafted easily in spring on seedlings of the 

 common sort. 



