322 



CASTANEA. 



Specific characters. — Leaves long, lanceolate, deeply serrated, and acuminate, 

 glabrous on both sides. The prickles of the calyx compound and entangled. 

 Stigmas six. 



Though the oak is usually called, and, indeed recognized 

 as the monarch of the woods, it has a rival of formidable 

 pretensions in the tree we are about to describe. In 

 dimensions, and in longevity, the Chesnut seems in no 

 way its inferior ; nor do we think it less picturesque in 

 form, or its foliage less imposing, either in richness or 

 effect ; and though the spread and diameter of the head 

 of the Chesnut may, generally speaking, not be so great 

 as that of the oak, its ramification is equally bold and easy, 



i^y^i 



and its trunk presents a still more effective and striking- 

 exterior, from the deep and wide clefts into which the 

 bark is split and divided. In fact, the only particular 

 in which the Chesnut exhibits a decided inferiority, is 

 in the quality of its timber, which, unlike that of the 

 oak, which gains strength and durability by age, begins 

 to deteriorate at heart, ere the tree has passed much 

 beyond the first half century of its growth ; this seems 

 a point well ascertained and established, and not as Mr. 

 Matthew seems to suspect, incidental to the action of 

 climate upon the Chesnut in this country, as the timber 



