Castanea 843 



looked like mighty trees, though not over 70 feet in height. It still fruits freely, 

 and bears on its branches several bunches of the southern species^ of mistletoe. 

 Besides this great tree, there are four other enormous trees on Mount Etna, 

 mentioned by Parlatore and Tornabene, viz. the Castagno della Nave, 22 metres 

 in girth; the C. della Navota, 18.7 metres; and the two C. di Santa Agata, 22.6 

 and 26.3 metres, all sound and much more beautiful than the C. di Cento Cavalli. 



The chestnut forms a part of the forests in the south of Germany, but is not 

 indigenous, being introduced, it is supposed, by the Romans, as in Alsace, where it 

 forms large woods, ascending to 2000 feet, on the slopes of the Vosges, and in the 

 plain, as around Sulzmatt and Rohrbach. Along the foot of the Vosges in Alsace, 

 chestnut coppice, treated on a fifteen years' rotation, is very common, the wood being 

 used for vine-props. The chestnut is cultivated largely in southern Germany as a 

 fruit tree, and as an ornamental tree in parts of north Germany, where in favourable 

 situations, as near Brunswick and at Blankenburg, it ripens its fruit perfectly. 



It is planted in southern Sweden and on the coast of Norway between Christiania 

 and Christiansand, and occasionally ripens its fruit. According to Schiibeler, it 

 exists in Norway as a bush as far north on the coast as lat. 63". 



In Austria it is commonly planted, as in Bohemia and Moravia, while farther 

 south it is supposed to be often wild. There is a remarkable wood of chestnut, on 

 the domain of Mokritz in lower Carniola, which lies between 500 and 1500 feet 

 elevation. In Carinthia, the chestnut constitutes 10 per cent of the mixed forest on 

 the Neuhaus estate, ascending to 1800 feet ; and at Bleiburg it is still a fine tree at 

 3100 feet elevation. 



On the eastern side of the Adriatic,^ from Fiume to Castelnuova, the chestnut 

 forms a part of the forest, which is composed mainly of oak and laurel ; while in the 

 interior it is a considerable element in the oak forests of western Bosnia and 

 Croatia. It occurs also mixed with the beech in Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and 

 Montenegro. Wilkomm speaks of grand woods of chestnut in southern Hungary, 

 Slavonia, Croatia, and Dalmatia ; and mentions large wild forests in the Etsch valley 

 in the Tyrol. Velenovsky* states that in the western Balkans, not far from the 

 toyn of Berkovitza, there are extensive woods of chestnut, which are apparently 

 wild, and have an undergrowth of the common hazel. Elsewhere in Bulgaria the 

 chestnut appears to be planted, and is not a common tree. 



The chestnut* is very common in the mountains of Greece, and is met with 

 also in the islands of Keos, Naxos, and Crete. It occurs either solitary or 

 gregariously, and in some parts of the mountains forms extensive woods. 



In Macedonia,' Thrace, Albania, and Bithynia, the chestnut often forms the lower 

 border of the deciduous forest, at 1200 to 3000 feet, occurring above the region of ever- 

 green shrubs ; but here and there it descends to sea-level. Chestnut woods occur on 

 Olympus, in the peninsula of Mount Athos, and on Mount Kortiach near Salonica. 



1 This appears to be, judging from an imperfect specimen kindly sent by Mr. Druce, Viscum laxnm, Boissier et Reuter. 

 Cf. Nyman, Consp. Fl. Europ. i. 320 (1878). 



'^ Cf. Beck von Mannagetta, Veg. Verk. Illyrischen Ldndeni, 147, etc. (1901). 



' Flora Bulgarica, Suppl. i. 254 (1898). * Halacsy, Consp. Fl. Grceca, iii. 125 (1904). 



' Grisebach, Fl. Rumelica, i. 339 (1843). 



