854 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



A tanning material,^ extracted from chestnut bark, is prepared near St, Malo in 

 France, and is largely exported to Belgium and to Glasgow. It is said to be used to 

 modify the colour produced by hemlock extract obtained from Tsuga canadensis? 



(H. J. E.) 



CASTANEA CRENATA, Japanese Chestnut 



Castanea crenata, Siebold et Zuccarini, Abh. Akad. Muench. IV. iii. 224 (1846); Schneider, 



Laubhohkunde, i. 804 (1906). 

 Castanea japonica, Blume, Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. i. 284 (1850). 

 Castanea vesca, Gaertner, v^x. pubimrvis, Hasskarl, Cat. Hort. Bog. Alt. 73 (1844). 

 Castanea vulgaris, Lamarck, vax. japonica, A. DC. Frod. xvi. 2, p. 115 (1864); Shirasawa, Icon 



Forest. Japon, text 63, t. xxxiv. fF. 14-25 (1900). 

 Castanea vulgaris, Lamarck, vax. yunnanensts, Fra.nch.et, /ourn. de Bot. 1899, P- ^9^- 

 Castanea sativa, Miller, var. acuminatissima, von Seeman, in Diels, Flora von Central China, 287 



(1901). 

 Castanea pubinervis, Schneider, Laubhohkunde, i. 158 (1904). 



A tree, usually smaller in size than the European species, but occasionally 

 attaining large dimensions. It is probably only a geographical form of that species, 

 but can readily be distinguished and may be kept separate; as it probably differs in 

 growth and in cultural requirements. 



The leaves are borne on shorter petioles, but resemble those of the common 

 chestnut in shape, being rounded or cordate at the base and having about twenty 

 pairs of nerves ; but they are smaller in size and have much shallower serrations, 

 with very long and fine spine -like points. The main difference lies in the 

 pubescence,' which is short and dense on the young branchlets, on the petioles, and 

 on the midrib of both sides of the leaf In the common chestnut this very distinct 

 pubescence is either absent or replaced by a scurf, very different in appearance. The 

 catkins of the eastern tree are more slender and the fruits of wild trees smaller 

 than in the common species. Castanea crenata also comes into flower, when still 

 very young, and often bears fruit when quite a small shrub. 



In China Castanea crenata^ occurs wild, mainly in the mountains of the central 

 provinces, as a tree about 40 feet in height ; and is nowhere abundant, and so far as 

 I have seen never forms woods of any extent. 



> A similar extract, prepared from the wood of the chestnut, is largely manufactured in Corsica. Mr. Southwell, Vice- 

 Consul at Bastia, gave me some interesting particulars about this industry, when I visited Corsica in December 1906. There 

 are four factories near Bastia, which produce about 25,000 tons of extract annually. The bark is not employed in Corsica, as 

 the dark colour of the extract produced from it is objectionable, four tons of wood yield about one ton of extract. The 

 wood is cut into chips, which are soaked under pressure in hot water, which extracts all the tannin and some of the colouring 

 matter. The resulting liquor is concentrated in vacuo. Practically the whole of this extract is used in England and Germany 

 for sole-leather. Mr. Southwell informed me that certain trees in "Corsica had brown-coloured wood, which produced an 

 unsaleable extract. He had found by experiment that this brown colour in the wood is due to the presence of iron in the 

 soil.— (A. H.) 2 JCew, Bulletin, 1893, p. 229. 



The pubescence over the lower surface of the leaf is similar to that of the European tree, and is very variable in quantity 

 and persistence. 



< The large chestnut tree occurring wild in China is considered by Dode to be distinct from the Japanese tree, and has 

 been named by him C. Duclouxii and C. Fargesii, in Bull. Soc. Dendr. France, 1908, pp. 150, 158. 



