912 ARBORETUM EV FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
disposed 2-—3 or more together, within a bell-shaped, and externally bristly 
involucre. Frat 2—3 nuts, included in a 4-valved involucre. (G. Don.) 
Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous; serrated or entire, feather- 
nerved, plaited in the bud. Flowers yellowish, conspicuous from the 
abundance and length of the male catkins. Fruit with a hairy calyx like that 
of the beech.—Trees deciduous, large, spreading; natives of Europe and 
North America, requiring a good soil to attain a large size. 
There is only one European species, which is chiefly valuable as a fruit 
tree, and as coppice-wood ; the timber of full-grown trees being brittle, and 
of short duration, The foliage is large and ornamental ; and, in this and its 
fru, it bears a close analogy to the beech. 
¥ 1. C.vz’sca Gertn. The eatable, sweet, or Spanish, Chestnut. 
Identification. Gzrtn. Sem., 1. p. 181.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 460. 
Synonymes. Fagus Castanea Lin. Hort. Cliff: 447.; Castanea sativa Mill. Dict. No. 1.; C. vulgaris 
Lam. Encyc. 1. p. 708., Eng. Bot. t. 886., Eng. Fl. 4. p. 151. 
Derivation. The term Sweet Chestnut is applied with reference to the fruit, in contradistinction t 
the fruit of the horsechestnut, which is bitter. It is called the Spanish chestnut, because the best 
chestnuts for the table, sold in the London markets, are imported from Spain. 
Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 886.; N. Du Ham. 3. t. 19.5 the plates of this tree in Arb. Brit., 1st 
edit., vol. viii.; and our jig. 1706. 
Spec. Char, $c. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, mucronately serrated ; 
glabrous on each side. (Willd.) A stately deciduous tree, rivalling the oak 
in size and longevity ; but, in regard to its timber, comparatively worthless. 
Asia Minor. Height 50 ft. to 70 ft. Cultivated in the temperate parts of 
Europe from time immemorial. Flowers yellowish; May. Fruit greenish, 
enclosing a brown nut ; ripe in October. 
Varieties. These may be arranged intwo classes ; those which are considered 
botanical varieties, and those which are cultivated on account of their fruit. 
: A. Botanical Varieties. 
¥ C. v.2 asplenifolia Lodd. Cat. 1836. C. heterophylla Hore. ; C. laciniata 
Hort. ; C. salicifolia Hort.— The leaves cut into shreds, regularly 
or irregularly, and sometimes so as to appear like linear-lanceolate 
leaves; and hence the epithet of salicifolia, 
¥ C.v. 3 cochleata Lodd. Cat. 1836. — The leaves cucullate, or hooded, 
with a diseased stunted appearance. 
¥ C. ov. 4 gldbra Lodd. Cat. 1836. C. v. foliis licidis Hort. — The 
leaves rather thin, and more shining than those of the species, 
¥ C.v. 5 glatca, C. glatica Hort.— The leaves somewhat glaucous. 
+ C.v. 6 variegdta. C.v. foliis adreis Lodd. Cat. 1836. — The leaves 
variegated with yellow, with some streaks of white; and the tree, 
when of a larger size, makes a splendid appearance in spring, and is 
admirably adapted for planting among evergreen shrubs, along with 
the balsam poplar ; the colour of which, when the leaves first expand, 
has all the ech yellow of this variety. 
¥ Cu. T americana. C.vésca Miche. N. Amer. Syl. iii. p. 9.—This variety 
has broader leaves than the European chestnut. 
B. Fruit-bearing Varieties. 
There are upwards of 20 sorts cultivated in the London Horticultural 
Society’s Garden, of which Mr. Thompson considers the four following as 
deserving the preference for ornamental cultivation : — Chataignier prime, 
C. Rallue, the Downton Chestnut, and Prolific Chestnut. 
Besides these there are the following English sorts : —Devonshire, Lewis's, 
Lisbon, Masters’s Canterbury, Knight’s Prolific, and the New Prolific. 
The varieties cultivated in France for the table are divided into two kinds, 
viz. les chdtaignes and les marrons ; the former being to the latter what the 
crab is to the apple. The best marrons sold in Paris are the marrons de 
Lyons ; and the best kinds of the common chestnut are :—La Chataigne de 
