TREES AND SHRUBS 



4-lobed involucre ; Perianth investing a tapering 6-celled inferior Ovarij, stigmas 

 5-8, reddish ; Fruit 1-celled, greenish, containing 13 brown nuts enclosed in a 

 spiny involucre or cupule, ripe in October ; bears after about twenty-five years. 



Leaves simple, alternate, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, mucronate serratures, 

 glabrous on botli surfaces, veins running straight from midrib to margin, 

 9-10 ins. long. Autumn tints yellow, orange, brown. 



A deciduous tree, 60-80 ft. ; Branches growing horizontally and downwards, 

 thickened towards side spray ; Bark of young wood smooth and brown, 

 becoming grey later, splitting into longitudinal fissures, which later on have 

 a spiral twist ; Buds with 2 scales, yellowish-green ; Wood durable ; useful 

 for beams, posts, fences, &c. ; more durable when young, sap-wood soon 

 changing into heart -wood. 



Supposed to have come from Asia Minor ; probably introduced during 

 Roman occupation ; average age about .500 years ; specimens on Mount Etna 

 2000-2500 years old. 



Name Chestnut is short for chesten-nut = nut of the cliesten= M.E. chestei/i, — 

 O.F. chastaigne, — L. castanea, the Chestnut-tree. — Gr. kastanon, chestnut. 

 Sometimes said to be derived from Kastanum, in Thessaly ; more probably from 

 Armenian kaskeid, a chestnut-tree, — kask, a chestnut. 



BEECH, Fagns sylvatica. 



Woods, paiks, gardens. April, May. Prefers limy soils, or clays con- 

 taining lime ; requires deep soil to do well. Propagated by seeds in March 

 or April ; transplant when two years old. 



Floivers greenish-yellow, monoecious, anemophilous ; 3la/e.s on slender, 



drooping, globose catkins, 1-1+ in. long, usually 4 in a bud, each with about 



a dozen flowers; Perianth campanulate, 4 7-lobed ; Stamens 8-12, filaments long, 



anthers yellow, small ; Females in erect catkins with short peduncles, 2-4 in a 



cupule of imbricated bracts ; Perianth 4-5-tootlied ; Oi^arij 3-celled, styles 8 ; 



Fruit 2-3 triangular, 1 -seeded nuts (masts) enclosed in a 4-valved bristly, 



woody, tough, reddish-brown capsule, ripe in October. 



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