BEECH FAMILY 



the surface of the ground. Two sections of the trunk have 

 disappeared and a road now runs through what is left. 



The wood is valuable chiefly because of the tannic acid it 

 contains, which makes it very durable in contact with the soil. 



During the tertiary period Castanea ranged to Greenland 

 and Alaska and traces of it are found in the miocene rocks 

 of Oregon and Colorado. 



The Chinquapin, Castanea puinila, is a southern tree often a 

 shrub, which bears an abundance of small sweet chestnuts. 

 The leaf resembles that of C. deniata but is smaller and very 

 downy on the under surface. This tree is reported as hardy 

 in the Arnold Arboretum. 



392 



