96 



Remarks. Specimens with the habit of retaining their branches 

 which lop downward, usually have thicker sap wood and are harder to 

 split. This form is popularly styled the white beech. The form with 

 smooth tall trunks with upright branches usually has more heart wood, 

 splits more easily and is popularly distinguished as red beech. The term 

 yellow beech is variously applied. This species is a large tree in all 

 parts of the State, although the largest specimens are found in the 

 southeastern part of the State. In the virgin forests trees almost 1 

 m. in diameter and 30 m. high were frequent. 



Beech was formerly used only for fuel, but in the last few decades 

 it has been cut and used for many purposes, and the supply is fast 

 diminishing. The beauty of this tree both in summer and winter, 

 sunshine or storm makes it one of the most desirable for shade tree 

 planting, but I have failed to find where it has been successfully used. 

 It is one of the few trees that does not take to domestication. When 

 the original forest is reduced to a remnant of beech, as a rule, the 

 remaining beech will soon begin to die at the top. It is difficult to 

 transplant. When planted the hole should be filled with earth ob- 

 tained from under a living tree, in order to introduce the mycorrhiza 

 that is necessary to the growth of the tree. 



2. CASTANEA. THE CHESTNUT. 



Castanea dentata (Marshall) Borkhausen. CHESTNUT. Plate 39. 

 Large trees with deeply fissured bark, smooth on young trees; young 

 twigs more or less hairy, soon becoming glabrous and a reddish-brown; 

 leaves lanceolate, average blades -13-22 cm. long, taper-pointed, wedge- 

 shape or obtuse at the base, coarsely serrate, teeth usually incurved, 

 at maturity glabrous on both sides; flowers appear after the leaves in 

 the latter part of June or early in July, the staminate catkins from 

 the axils of the leaves of the year's growth, 1.5-3 dm. long, pistillate 

 flowers in heads on short stalks in the axils of the leaves, usually on 

 the branch beyond the greater part of the staminate catkins; fruit 

 a globular spiny bur 5-7 cm. in diameter which contains the nuts; 

 nuts usually 1-3, rarely 5, flattened on one side, edible; wood light, 

 soft, not strong, checks and warps on seasoning, yellowish-brown, 

 durable in contact with the ground. 



Distribution. Maine, southern Ontario, Michigan, south to Dela- 

 ware and in the mountains to Alabama, and west to Arkansas. In 

 Indiana it is found locally in the south central counties. The most 

 northern station where I have seen trees that are native to a certainty 

 is in Morgan County a short distance north of Martinsville. There 

 are a few trees on the south bank of White River in Mound Park about 



