CASTANOPSIS. 59 



productions which had evaded the pursuit of experi- 

 menters for decades and even centuries. 



For specimens of the nuts, burs and plants of this 

 handsome nut-bearing tree I am indebted to Mr. J. J. 

 Harden, of Stayton, Oregon, who informs me that it 

 grows in the mountains near by to a very large size, and 

 among such well-known kinds of shrubs and trees as 

 Rhamnus Purshianus, Oornus NuttalU, Gorylusrostrata, 

 and various species of conifers which are now more or 

 less common in our Eastern gardens and parks. The 

 twigs and leaves are sbown in Fig. 10, and below a nut, 

 and in Fig. 11 a bur, all of natural size. The small con- 

 ical nut is slightly triangular, with a rather firm, brittle 

 shell, not fibrous as in the acorn and chestnut. The burs 

 are produced singly, but sometimes several on a twig, and 

 when mature, instead of opening by valves, as in the true 

 chestnut, they break up irregularly. The kernels are 

 sweet and excellent flavored, and are sought for by various 

 kinds of birds, as well as by all the squirrel tribe, and 

 for this reason it is very difficult to procure specimens, 

 unless gathered before they are fully ripe. The nuts do 

 not mature the first season, but pass the winter in a 

 partly developed stage, usually ripening the second year 

 about midsummer or, in northern Oregon, in July. 



It is quite probable that this Castanopsis, when 

 planted in the Atlantic States, will require a little shade 

 or protection, like the American holly and similar broad- 

 leaved evergreens, and while it may not thrive anywhere 

 north of Delaware and Maryland, it is worth trying, as 

 the sole native representative of a genus containing sev- 

 eral species of noble evergreen trees. 



