CASTANEA 307 



C. CRENATA, Siebold. JAPANESE CHESTNUT. 

 (C. japonica, Blume.") 



A small tree, frequently less than 30 ft. high, according to Saigent, but 

 occasionally much larger ; young shoots sometimes very downy, with the 

 down persisting through the first winter, sometimes merely scaly. Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, 3 to 7 ins. long, i to 2 ins. wide, heart-shaped or rounded 

 at the base, pointed ; the teeth small, with bristle-like points ; lower surface 

 covered with a close grey down ; stalk ^ in. long, downy. Nuts like those of 

 C. sativa. 



Native of Japan ; introduced in 1905, if not before, to Kew, where young 

 plants are thriving very well. This is a valuable food tree in Japan, and 

 Sargent observes that he never saw chestnuts offered in such quantities for 

 sale in Europe and America as there. He saw young trees 10 or 12 ft. high 

 fruiting freely. Ordinarily, the nuts are smaller than those of the European 

 tree, but from selected trees or varieties they are as large as the best European 

 varieties. 



C. DENTATA, Borkhausen. AMERICAN CHESTNUT. 

 (C. americana, Rafinesque.) 



A tree occasionally 100 ft. high in N. America, with the trunk and habit of 

 the Spanish chestnut, but with, perhaps, scarcely so spreading a head ; young 

 shoots smooth except for a dust-like scurf. Leaves dull green, narrowly 

 oblong, tapering about equally at both ends, 6 to 9 ins. long, if to 2 ins. wide, 

 coarsely toothed except at the base ; both surfaces smooth ; stalk about | in. 

 long. Catkins 6 to 8 ins. long. Fruit as in the European species, consisting 

 of a bur of numerous, branched, slender spines enclosing one to three nuts. 



Native of Eastern N. America, whose introduction to Britain has not 

 been recorded. It is very rare in cultivation in England, although a young 

 tree at Kew 35 ft. high thrives well. In America the tree is valued for its 

 timber and its nuts, which, although not so large as those of C. sativa, are said 

 to be of superior flavour and to have a thinner shell. The leaves differ from 

 those of C. sativa in the uniformly tapered base, and in being narrower in 

 proportion to their length. They are never clothed beneath with a thick, close 

 down, as those of C. sativa and C. crenata often are. 



C. PUMILA, Miller. DWARF CHESTNUT. 



A deciduous shrub spreading by underground stems, or a small tree ; 

 young shoots covered with short hairs, which persist through the winter. 

 Leaves oblong, inclined to oval and obovate, 3 to 5 ins. long, i to 2 ins. wide, 

 pointed, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, coarsely toothed ; dark green 

 and soon becoming smooth above, but coated beneath with a persistent, 

 greyish white (at first quite white), close felt. Male catkins 4 ins. or more long. 

 Nut of good flavour, egg-shaped and not flattened, f to I in. long, usually 

 solitary in a bur i| ins. across. (Fig., p. 308.) 



Native of Eastern N. America, where it is often known as the " chinqua- 

 pin"; introduced, according to Aiton, in 1699, but ver Y rare in cultivation. 

 There are shrubby examples at Kew which flower, but have never, in my 

 experience, borne fruit. It probably needs a hotter summer than ours, as a 

 small tree at Verrieres, near Paris, in Mr de Vilmorin's garden, often fruits 

 'freely. This chestnut is well distinguished from the others by its shrubby 

 habit, and white under-surface of the leaf. In N. America a single plant often 

 forms a thicket through its habit of spreading by suckers. 



