THE SWEET CHESTNUT 47 
the season when the pollen is ripe the flowers pro- 
duce a very powerful and somewhat hircine odour. 
The “cupule,” formed from the four bracteoles 
of the two lateral florets, corresponds to the cup of 
the acorn, the leafy husk of the Hazel-nut, or the 
hook-covered casing of the Beech-mast. Until the 
fruit is ripe it is entirely invested by this husk, 
which is thickly beset with prickles, each of them 
said to represent an abortive branch. This ball- 
like chevaux-de-frise of protection ultimately splits 
into its four constituent bracteoles, disclosing the 
glossy brown fruits within. The ovary contains 
from five to eight chambers, and there are an 
equal number of stigmas, which are easily recog- 
nised, as they spread outwards in a radiating 
manner above the calyx which, even in the fruit 
stage, surmounts the ovary. There are generally 
two ovules in each chamber of the ovary, out of 
all of which one only, or three at the most, is 
matured into a seed. 
The well-known fruit, so often confused by the 
botanical tyro with the seed of the Horse-chestnut, 
a tree with no real relationship to our present sub- 
ject, does not often in this country reach eatable 
proportions, though the gales of every autumn blow 
down the bright green fuzz-balls of spines, bursting 
them open and liberating the three brown fruits, 
more or less shrivelled, within. Upwards of 50,000 
bushels of chestnuts are annually imported into 
England; and they still form a staple article of 
food in the central plains of France and _ the 
valleys of the Alps, for they contain so large a 
