M0N0EC1A POLYANDRIA 537 



».<ni*castanea dentata. Marsh. Arbust. p. 46. 



rSnea vesca. mild. Sp. 4. p. 460. Ait ? Xew. 5. p. 298. Mx.f. 



via 3 f) 10 (Icoir,*<iA. 104.). Bigel. Bost. p.349. Florid. Cestr. 



?ioi &* *"»• * 792 - *"*' *"• * 332 ' 



Esculent Castanea. Vulgd— Chemnt tree. 



50 to 80 or 90 feet high, and 2 to 4 or 5 feet in diameter, branched. Leaves 

 q inches long, and an inch and half to 3 inches wide, elliptic- or oblong-Ian- 

 acuminate, obliquely sinuate-serrate, the serratures acuminate, smooth 

 6 \ scent when young), shining green above, paler beneath, and somewhat 

 l c on the midrib ; petioles half an inch to 3 quarters in length ; s/t/?ults linear- 

 is ceolate entire, smoothish, caducous. Staminate flowers email, whitish or 

 hroleucous, in slender pubescent interrupted spikes, or aments, 4 to 8 inches 

 ihe florets crowded in dense bracteate clusters, emitting a heavy unpleasant 

 , - Siainens long. Pistillate flowers mostly 3 together, in a scaly squarroso 

 toid involucre. Involucre mostly solitary, sometimes 3 or 4 in a cluster, subses 

 lile enlarging, finally globose, 2 or 2 and a half inches in diameter, thickly 

 covered with acute compound or branching prickles, opening at maturity with 4 

 lobes or valves, nearly to the base, and holding the nuts as in a cup. Nuts 3 

 (by abortion often 2, or 1), roundish-ovate, acuminate, reddish-brown, smooth 

 below coated with a pale tawny pubescence at summit,— the middle nut flatted 

 on both sides, the lateral ones rounded or gibbous externally,— when the lateral 

 ones are both abortive, the central one becomes roundish-ovoid. 

 Uab. Woodlands; on slaty hills : common. Fl. June. Fr. October. 



Obs. Although not specifically distinct from the European Chesnut, ours cer- 

 tainly affords a pretty distinct variety. The fruit of our native tree is smaller, 

 and much sweeter, than that of the foreign one,— which is cultivated in several 

 places, in this County, under the name of Spanish Chesnvt. The wood of the 

 Chesnut tree is light, yet very durable;— not et>;eemed for fuel, but highly valued 

 formating fences. The tree seems naturally to abound on our stei ile slaty hills, 

 and is of rapid growth,— being speedily reproduced, by suckers from the stump, 

 when cut off, and therefore well calculated to keep up a supply of fencing timber. 



2. C. pumila, Mx. Leaves obovate-oblong, acute, whitish tomen- 

 tose beneath. Bech, Bot. p. 332. Icon, Mx.f. Sylva, 3. lab. 105. 

 Fagus Castanea pumila. Marsh. Arbust. p. 47. 



Dwarf Castanea. Vulgo— Chinquapin. 



Stem 6 to 10 or 12 feel high, and 1 to 2 or 3 inches in diameter, branching. Leaves 

 2 to 6 inches long, and 1 to 2, or 2 and a half, inches wide, varying from lance* 

 oblong, to lance-obovate, acute, mucronately serrate, or sometimes denticulate, 

 green and smoothish above, clothed with a soft dense cinereous tomentum beneath; 

 petioles 1 fourth to half an inch long. Slamiuate aments 1 or 2 to 4 inches long, 

 Blender and numerous. Involucre of the pistillate flowers in spikes, er somewhat 

 clustered on short tomentose axillary branches, enlarging, finally globose, an 

 inch or inch and half in diameter, pubescent and prickly, opening at summit 

 with 4 lobes or valves. Nut (by abortion f) solitary, small, ovoid, acute, dark 

 brown, pubescent at summit. 



Uab. Sterile soils ; Oxford, &c. rare. Fl. June. Fr. October. 



06*. This shrub is met with, occasionally, in the South-western extremity of 

 the County,— and is very abundant in the sterile districts of the adjacent Slate of 

 Maryland ,— but is extremely rare to the North of that. The nuts are sweet and 

 pleasant, but scarcely half the size of the Chesnut. One other species, which 

 seems to be nearly allied to this, is enumerated in the Southern States. 



