CHESTNUT, CHINQUAPIN. 



(Castanea.) 



The chestnut is found in the temperature regions of central 

 and southern Europe, northern Africa, China, Japan, and 

 eastern North America. The wood is valued in construction, 

 and the much-prized nuts are regarded as a food rather than a 

 confection. European chestnut wood was once high in favor, 

 although examination of structures in which it was supposed 

 to have been used indicates that in some instances oak had 

 been mistaken for it and had been employed in its place. 



The North American chestnut affords a weak, brittle, but 

 easily worked and very durable wood, such as is admirably 

 adapted for beams, ties, and sills, where lightness and 

 durability rather than much transverse strength are required. 

 Trees in Europe have attained to great size and age. Micheaux 

 mentions one thirty feet in circumference six feet from the 

 ground and said to have been standing for a thousand years. 

 The famous Mt. Etna chestnut * is reported to have measured 

 two hundred and four feet in circumference. Large trunks are 

 apt to be hollow, affording brittle, useless wood. The 

 botanical relation between the American and European chest- 

 nuts is not distinct. Some consider the former a distinct 

 species, others a variety only. The name "Chinquapin" 

 applies to two distinct botanical species, one, the Castanea 

 pumila, closely related to the common chestnut; the other, 

 Castanopsis chrysophylla, belonging to the same family 

 (Cupuliferae), but to quite another genus. Both afford woods 

 resembling, but heavier than, chestnut. 



The chestnut may be known by its large prickly burr, 



* "Castagno di cento cavalli," so called from having sheltered IOO mounted 

 cavaliers, measured by Brydon in 1770. It had the appearance of five distinct 

 trees, but was probably one trunk. (G. B. Emerson, "Trees and Shrubs of 

 Massachusetts," Vol. I, page 192.) 



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