BEECH FAMILY. 



5'5 



x. Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. American Chestnut. 



(Fig. 1226.) 



Fagus Castanea dentata Marsh. Ar> AMI 46. 178*, 



Cas/anta dentata Borkh. Handb 



C. vesca var. Amfi inina M: .,,3. igoj. 



A large forest tree, with gray bark rough in loogitu 

 plates, reaching a maximum height of about 100 and a 

 trunk diameter of 14; lower branches spreading. Leave* 

 oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, firm, acuminate at the apex, 

 narrowed or rounded at the base, coarsely serrate, with 

 very sharp-pointed ascending teeth, rather dark green 

 above, lighter beneath, 5'- 12' long, i #'-3' wide; p. 

 stout, %'-i' long; staminate amenta erect, numerous, 

 borne solitary in the upper axils, 6'- 12' long, 4"-s" in di- 

 ameter; burs i #'-4' in diameter, solitary or 2-4 together, 

 enclosing 1-5 nuts; nuts puberulent, dark brown, plano- 

 convex or angled on the face, or when solitary ovoid. 



In rich soil, Maine and ( >tit.r lagan ajnd Ten- 



nessee. Wood coarse -grained, durable, brown. WI-IK 

 cubic foot 28 Ibs. Involucre sonu-tiim-s suppressed and the 

 nuts naked. June-July. Nuts : 



2. Castanea pumila (L.) Mill. Chinquapin. 

 (Fig. 1227.) 



Fagns pumila L. Sp. PI. 998. 1753. 



Castanea pumila Mill. Gard. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 2. 1768. 



A shrub or small tree, sometimes 45 high and with 

 a trunk 3 in diameter, the young shoots puberulent. 

 Leaves oblong, acute at both ends, sharply serrate with 

 ascending or divergent teeth, dark green and glabrous 

 above, densely white-tomentulose beneath, 3 / -6 / long, 

 I'-z^' wide; staminate aments erect or somewhat 

 spreading, s'-s' long, $"-4" in diameter; burs i J^' in 

 diameter or less, commonly spicate, enclosing a soli- 

 tary ovoid brown nut (rarely 2); seed very sweet. 



In dry soil. New Jersey &nd Pennsylvania to Indiana, 

 Florida and Texas. Wood strong, coarse-grained, .dark 

 brown ; weight per cubic foot 37 Ibs. June. Nuts ripe Sept. 



3. QUERCUS L. Sp. PI. 994. 1753. 



Trees or shrubs, with pinnatifid lobed dentate crenate or entire leaves, deciduous or in 

 some species persistent. Flowers very small, green or yellowish, appearing with or before 

 the leaves, the staminate numerous in slender mostly drooping aments, the pistillate soli- 

 tary iu many-bracted involucres borne on the twigs of the preceding season or on the young 

 shoots. Staminate flowers subtended by caducous bracts, consisting of a mostly 6-lobed 

 campanulate perianth and 6-12 stamens with filiform filaments, sometimes also with an abor- 

 tive pilose ovary. Pistillate flowers with an urn-shaped or oblong calyx, adnate to a mostly 

 3-celled ovary; ovules 2 in each cavity of the ovary, rarely more than i in each ovary matur- 

 ing; styles as many as the ovary-cavities, short, erect or recurved. Fruit consisting of the 

 imbricated and more or less united bracts of the involucre ( cup ), subtending or nearly enclos- 

 ing the ovoid, oblong or subglobose i-seeded coriaceous nut (acorn). [The ancient Latin 

 name, probably of Celtic derivation, signifying "beautiful tree."] 



About 200 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Besides the following. *.,,tne 30 others 

 occur in the western and southern sections of North America. 

 '* Leaves or their lobes bristle-tipped, deciduous; <i>/.f maturing in autumn of second : 



t Leaves pinnatifid or pinnately lobed. 

 Leaves green on both sides. 



Cup of the acorn saucer-shaped, much broader than high. 

 Cup 8"-i2" broad: acorn ovoid: leaves dull. 

 Cup 4" -8" broad; leaves shining. 



Acorn subglobose or short-ovoid; northern. 

 Acorn ovoid; southern. 

 Cup of the acorn turbinate or hemispheric. 



Inner bark gray; leaves shining both sides. 4- (? COCCtme*. 



Inner bark orange; leaves pubescent in the axils of the veins beneath. 5. >. relutina. 

 Leaves white or gray-tomentulose beneath. 



Large tree; leaf-lobes lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, long. 



Shrub or low tree; leaf-lobes triangular-ovate, short. nana. 



\ />ali, 



ana. 



