FAGACEAE 

 Chestnut 



Castanea dcntata {Marsh.) Borkh. [Castanea vesca, v. ameri- 

 cana Michx.] [Castanea saliva, v. americana Sarg.] 



HABIT. A tree 60-80 feet high, forming a short, straight 

 trunk 2-4 feet in diameter, divided not far above the ground 

 into several stout, horizontal limbs and forming a broad, open, 

 rounded crown. 



LEAVES. Alternate, simple, 6-8 inches long, 2-3 inches 

 broad; oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed at the apex; coarsely 

 serrate with stout, incurved, glandular teeth ; thin ; dull yellow- 

 green above, lighter beneath, glabrous; petioles short, stout, 

 puberulous. 



FLOWERS. June-July, after the leaves; monoecious; the 

 staminate catkins 6-8 inches long, slender, puberulous, bearing 

 3-7-flowered cymes of yellow-green flowers; calyx 6-cleft, pube- 

 scent; stamens 10-20; the androgynous catkins 2^-5 inches long, 

 puberulous, bearing 2-3 prickly involucres of pistillate flowers 

 near their base ; calyx campanulate, 6-lobed ; styles 6. 



FRUIT. Ripens in autumn ; round, thick, prickly burs, 

 about 2 inches in diameter, containing 1-3 nuts ; nuts compressed, 

 brownish, coated with whitish down at the apex; sweet and 

 edible. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud absent; lateral buds ft 

 inch long, ovoid, acute, brownish. 



BARK. Twigs lustrous, yellow-green, becoming olive-green 

 and finally dark brown ; old trunks gray-brown, with shallow 

 fissures and broad, flat ridges. 



WOOD. Light, soft, coarse-grained, weak, easily split, very 

 durable in contact with the soil, red-brown, with very thin, 

 lighter colored sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. South-eastern Michigan, as far north 

 as St. Clair County. Abundant in eastern Monroe County and 

 Wayne County. 



HABITAT. Pastures; hillsides; glacial drift; well-drained, 

 gravelly or rocky soil. 



NOTES. A rapid grower and living to a great age. Diffi- 

 cult to transplant. Subject to a disease which threatens exter- 

 mination in this country. 



95 



