Cupulifere—Fagus. 41I 
verdant foliage of other trees. Fs. cuprea, the Copper Becch, 
has a less pleasing tint, and should not be planted where only 
one is wanted. #. s. foliis argénteo-variegatis, Silver-striped 
Beech, and F. s. foliis aireo-variegdtis, Gold-striped Beech, 
are also very pretty. F.s. péndula and F. s. purpirea pén- 
dula are fine robust weeping trees. Besides the foregoing 
there are several with more or less lobed or bipinnatifid leaves, 
as F. s. incisa, F. s. aspleniifolia, and F. s. quercifolia ; and 
F. s. macrophylla has larger foliage than the common form. 
The Beech is found from Norway to Asia Minor, reappearing 
in Japan. 
F. ferrug nea, syn. F. sylvatica, var. Americana, isa closely 
allied North American species, inferior in point of beauty. It 
is distinguished from the European species by its narrower 
longer leaves which are clothed with rufous hairs when young. 
P : antaretica, is a small-leaved deciduous species from the 
extreme South of America; and F. betuloides is an evergreen 
species from the same region with very small coriaceous ovate 
toothed leaves. This is quite hardy in exposed situations in 
the South-west of Britain. 
3. CASTANEA. 
Deciduous trees or shrubs having the male flowers clustered 
on long naked cylindrical catkins, with a 5- or 6-partite perianth 
and 8 to 15 stamens. Female flowers 2 or 3 together in a 
prickly 4-lobed involucre, which eventually completely encloses 
the coriaceous glossy brown fruits or nuts. The species are 
widely dispersed in the north temperate zone. Named by the 
ancients after a town in Thessaly. 
1. C. vésea. Sweet or Spanish Chestnut.—A gigantic tree 
with rugged bark and often a twisted trunk. Leaves glabrous, 
oblong-lanceolate, acute, coarsely and sharply serrate. Flowers 
yellowish green, appearing in June. This handsome tree 
appears to have been originally introduced into Europe from 
Asia Minor, and has been extensively cultivated fora very long 
period for its edible nuts. The varieties worth cultivating for 
ornamental purposes, besides the ordinary one, are not numerous. 
Perhaps the C. vesca foliis atvreo-margindtis, with golden- 
edged foliage; and C. v. heterophylla dissécta, in which the 
leaves are divided into thin thread-like segments, are the 
best. 
