THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



Until comparatively recently the Caucasus, Persia, 

 northern India, and Thibet were variously given as 

 the supposed home of the Horsechestnut. On the 

 authority of Doctor Hawkins, Sipthorp in his "Flora 

 of Greece" published in 1806, states that this tree is 

 wild on Mt. Pelion in Crete but later investigations 

 have decided that it was only planted there. Trees 

 introduced into Greece by the Turks are always found 

 in the neighbourhood of towns, and it is doubtful that 

 the ancient Greeks had any knowledge of the Horse- 

 chestnut. For centuries the native country of this 

 tree was a matter of doubt and the question was not 

 settled definitely until 1879, when Theodor von Hel- 

 dreich published a full account of it. 1 1 is now known 

 to be wild on the mountains df Thessaly, Epirus, and 

 other parts of northern Greece. In 1897 it was found 

 growing wild on precipices in the district of Janina in 

 Albania, below the lower limit of the coniferous belt. 



Quite naturally in a tree so long cultivated several 

 varieties have been detected and perpetuated by 

 vegetative propagation. Among the most distinct 

 are the varieties pyramidalis, umbraculifera, tortuosa, 

 and pendula, sufficiently described by their names. 

 A form with leaflets incised into narrow lobes has 

 been distinguished as var. laciniata; another with 

 short-stalked, yellowish variegated leaves suggests 

 a diseased condition and ought to be discounte- 



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