EXOGENOUS SERIES BROADLEAF WOODS. 57 



containing from one to three thin-shelled, triangular, wedge- 

 shaped nuts. Both chinquapins have prickly burrs containing 

 one, or sometimes two, sweet edible nuts. Three of the four 

 known species of the genus Castanea grow in North America, 

 one the common chestnut (Castanea vulgaris) ; another the 

 Chinquapin (Castanea pumila) ; the third a plant never attaining 

 to the size of a tree. The Chinquapin (Castanopsis clirysa- 

 pJiylla) is the only North American representative of a genus 

 including twenty-five species. Keeler says that Castanea is 

 from a town of that name in Thessaly, or from another town 

 of that name in Pontus. 



