4 
318 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 
the base deeply 1 lobed (usually 3 lobes on each side) ,—the lobes rather narr verging, 
, both surfaces gore except a 
or pohescen coat in the — Far the ao es beneath ; 3s 1-2 inches long. Acorn 
o> ted in a smoothish’ shallow nearly flat-bottomed subsessile 
low grounds, along rivulets, &c.: New England to Pennsylvania, and west to 
s hich . ae. abruptly rica on the centre of the base. 
a The wood of this Oak is very firm,—and is ure h planed a 
wheelwrights, &c. It is quite common in ‘Pennsylvania 
appear to extend to the South. It would seem as if th eQ. f fale tg ny 
this species, were distinctly located in the ie i aies aivitions oot 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. Cuesrnvr. 
{Named from a city of Thessaly (Castanea) ; famed for Chestnuts.] 
StaminaTe Fi. ey med — in Sieg Seem naked Sapo spike- 
form aments. Calyx deeply 5-6- —15; anthers 2- 
celled. Pustmuate Ft. usually in ae ees, within sia drt soli- 
pa or clustered znvolucres. rage & adherent to i. Shia, Sind limb 
6 lobed. Stamens 5— DOVE minute 3-6 celled; 
one solitary, pendulous ; style b tle-li 
Fruit a coriaceous pric ly paola. ciated ing 1-3 — and opening 
by 4 valves. Nuts ovoid when single, Maniedics x mpressed when 
two or three,—-l-seeded by abortion. Cotyledon: thick, crew plicate 
and cohering together, sweetish and farinaceous, /"lowers appearing 
after the leaves. 
1. C. ves’ca, Leaves oblong- Seon eee rate, with coarse 
pointed teeth, smooth on both sides ; usually 2—3 in each h involucre. 
Eataste Castanea. Chestnut. Chateit tee 
Fr. Le Chataignier. Germ. Der Kastanienbaum. Span. Castaiio. 
feet high, and 2-4 or 5 feet in diameter. Leaves 6-9 inches long ; sti 
Stem 60~ ook 90 
joles about half an inch long. Staminate flowers small, whitish or ochroleucous, in 
inte! i 4- -8 inches gth,—the ets” 
slender, chen i upted spikes or aments, in length, fi 
crowded in dense Ls poawt — 34 stamens a flowers mostly 3 together, 
in a sealy, squar’ volucre. Involucre usually solitary—sometimes 3-4 
a. cioster subsessile, enlarging, finally globose, about 2 inches in diameter, thickly. 
oon vered with acu eg 2 prickles, opening at maturity by 4 valves or” 
lobes, densel ni within. Nuts 3 by abo often 2 or 1), roundish-ovate, acumi- 
nate, ‘reddish -brown, sm below, the uppe ral ue covered with a greyish-tawny pubes- 
cence ; the middle nut fatted on both sides, the lateral — convex or gibbous exter- 
at d when the lateral ones are both abortive, the central one becomes ee Bi 
void. 
F loni fcrreata : ghout the United States. FU. June. Fr. October. 
Obs. The Ameri rican Chestnut-tree is scarcely more than a variety of » 
the Buropen—tbs chief difference being in the ua e of the fruit. The- 
nuts of our ait tisha are “smaller, and the yee 
of the European variety—or “8. 
