318 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



long, deeply lobed (usually 3 lobes on each side), the lobes rather narrow, diverging, 

 the base of the leaves obtuse or often somewhat cuneatc, both surfaces smooth, except a 

 tuft of pubescence in the axils of the nerves beneath ; petioles 1-2 inches long. Acorn 

 small (mostly numerous) , seated in a smoothish shallow nearly flat-bottomed subsessile 

 cup, which is often abruptly tapering from the centre of the base. 



Wet low grounds, along rivulets, &c.: New England to Pennsylvania, and west to 

 Illinois. 



Obs. The wood of this Oak is very firm, and is much employed by 

 wheelwrights, &c. It is quite common in Pennsylvania, but does not 

 appear to extend to the South. It would seem as if the Q,. falca'ta, and 

 this species, were distinctly located in the two great divisions of the U. 

 States. Four or five additional species, belonging to this group, are 

 found in the U. States ; but they are not very important, and some of 

 them are quite small and scrubby. 



2. CASTA'NEA, Tournef. CHESTNUT. 



[Named from a city of Thessaly (Costarica) ; famed for Chestnuts.] 



STAMINATE FL. interruptedly clustered in long naked cylindrical spike- 

 form aments. Calyx deeply 5 - 6-parted. Stamens 8-15; anthers 2- 

 celled. PISTILLATE FL. usually in threes, within ovoid squarrose soli- 

 tary or clustered involucres. Calyx adherent to the ovary, the limb 

 5-6 lobed. Stamens 5-12, abortive, minute. Ovary 3-6 celled; 

 ovules solitary, pendulous ; style bristle-like ; stigmas as many as the cells. 

 Fruit a coriaceous prickly involucre, containing 1-3 nuts, and opening 

 by 4 valves. Nuts ovoid when single, plano-convex or compressed when 

 two or three, 1-seeded by abortion. Cotyledons thick, somewhat plicate 

 and cohering together, sweetish and farinaceous. Flowers appearing 

 after the leaves. 



1, C. ves'ca, Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate-serrate, with coarse 

 pointed teeth, smooth on both sides ; nuts usually 2 - 3 in each involucre. 

 EATABLE CASTANEA. Chestnut. Chestnut-tree. 

 Fr. Le Chataignier. Germ. Der Kastanieiibaum. .Span. Castano. 



Stem 60-80 or 90 feet high, and 2-4 or 5 feet in diameter. Leaves 6-9 inches long ; 

 petioles about half an inch long. Staminate flowers small, whitish or ochroleucous, in 

 slender, pubescent interrupted spikes or aments, 4-8 inches in length, the florets 

 crowded in dense bracteate clusters ; stamens long. Pistillate fl^nven mostly 3 together, 

 in a scaly, squarrosfe ovoid involucre. Involucre usually solitary sometimes 3-4 in 

 a cluster- subsessile, enlarging, finally globose, about 2 inches in diameter, thickly 

 covered with acute compound or cofilesced prickles, opening at maturity by 4 valves or 

 lobes, densely villous within. Nuts 3 (by abortion often 2 or 1), roundish-ovate, acumi- 

 nate, reddish-brown, smooth below, the upper half covered with a greyish-tawny pubes- 

 cence ; the middle nut flatted on both sides, the lateral ones convex or gibbous exter- 

 nally, and when the lateral ones are both abortive, the central one becomes roundish- 

 ovoid . 



Upland forests : throughout the United States. Fl. June. Fr. October. 



Obs. The American Chestnut-tree is scarcely more than a variety of 

 the European, the chief difference being in the size of the fruit. The 

 nuts of our native Chestnut-tree are smaller, and the kernels much 

 sweeter, than those of the European variety or " Spanish Chestnut," 



