492 LXXii. CUPULlFERiE. [Castanea. 



land, are mythical — ^wherever examined, such timber has been found to be oak. 

 It coppices vigorously; along the Vosges it is grown for vineyard poles, in Kent 

 and Sussex for hop-poles. In the south of Europe the chestnut forms extensive 

 forests more or less cultivated, the fruit being its most valuable produce, form- 

 ing an important article of food for the inhabitants of the mountainous regions 

 of Central France, Spain, Corsica, Italy, and Greece. It is not certain whether 

 its original home is in Asia Minor and Greece, or whether it is also indigenous 

 in Italy and Spain. In England it was introduced at an early age. The tree 

 has been grown in the N.W. Himalaya, and should be encouraged as an im- 

 portant food-producing tree, wherever it bears fruit. 



3. CAEPINUS, Toumef. 



Deciduous trees ; buds eloHgate, closed, with imbricate scales. Leaves 

 membranous, serrate. Male flowers in drooping sessile lateral hairy cat- 

 kins ; perianth none; stamens 6-12 on short filaments, attached to the 

 base of the broad-ovate scales ; anther-cells distinct, stipitate, hairy at the 

 tip. Female flowers in slender drooping terminal spikes, in pairs in the 

 axils of deciduous linear-lanceolate bracts, each flower supported by a 3- 

 lobed or undivided persistent involucre, which is enlarged in fruit. Ovary 

 2-celled, limb of perianth dentate ; styles 2, erect, filiform. Fruit 1 -seeded, 

 enclosed in a hard pericarp, 6-12-ribbed, crowned by the perianth-teeth, 

 and often by the persistent styles, small, many times shorter than the en- 

 larged membranous 3-7-nerved reticulate involucral bracts. 



Leaves ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, duplicate-serrate , . 1. C. viminea. 

 Leaves ovate-oblong, acute, serrate, teeth simple, subulate . . 2. O. fagiima. 



1. C. viminea, WaU., PI. As. Ear. t. 106 ; DC. Prodr. xvi. ii. 127. 

 Vern. Charkliri, kai, Pb. ; Pumne, goria, chamkharak, N.W.P. 



A moderate - sized tree with slender drooping verrucose branches; 

 leaf-buds cylindric, scales shining, fringed with short soft hairs. Leaves 

 glabrous, ovate-lanceolate, with large serratures serrulate on the outside, 

 long-acuminate, acumen linear, serrate; blade 3-4 in., petiole slender, hairy, 

 J in. long. Involucral bracts f in. long, 3-5-nerved, lanceolate, unecftial- 

 sided, the broad half dentate vdth large obttise teeth, the narrow half 

 entire, often with a short lobe near the base; fruit 1-2 lines long (2-seeded, 

 Lindley in Wall. 1. c.) 



Himalaya, extending west to the Eavi, between 5000 and 7000 ft. Kasia 

 hiUs. Male catkins appear before the leaves, female fl. with the leaves in spring. 

 Fr. June-Sept. Often foimd near water. Bark thin, grey. Wood yellowish- 

 white, hard, heavy, believed to be durable. Growth moderately slow, 10 rings 

 per inch. 



2. C. faginea, Lindley.— Tab. LXVI.— WaU. PI. As. Ear. ii. 5. Vern. 

 Shirdsh, Imar, Pb. ; Chsh, N.W. P. 



A moderate-sized tree ; branchlets and petioles soft-tomentose. Leaves 

 pubescent when young, glabrous afterwards, elliptic-oblong, acute, short- 

 petiolate, serrate with simple subulate serratures, 3-5 in. long. Involucral 

 bracts f in. long, pubescent, ^-O-nerved, triangular, very unequal-sided, the 



