Fagus. 



CUPULIFEILE. 



195 



forests in the western counties. Fl. May. Fr. October. I have seen but one species of 

 Beech in the State. There are two varieties distinguished by mechanics who use the wood, 

 one called Red, the other White Beech ; the difference being probably caused by the greater 

 or less humidity of the soil. F. ferruginea of Michaux's Sylva (not of Ait.), if a distinct 

 species, has not come under my observation. The European Beech (F. sylvatica) differs 

 from ours in its much smaller broadly ovate leaves, which are also far less deeply toothed ; 

 the prickles of the fruit are more numerous, and straight ; the peduncle of the sterile head of 

 flowers shorter and more hairy. 



6. CASTANEA. Town. ; Endl. gen. 1848. chestnut. 



[ Named from Caslanca, in Thessaly, celebrated for its Chestnut trees.] 

 Flowers monoecious, or rarely perfect. Sterile fl. very numerous, interruptedly clustered 

 in long cylindrical aments. Calyx deeply 5 - 6 -parted. Stamens 8-15. Fertile or 

 perfect fl. 2-3, in an ovoid or campanulate scaly or muricate involucre. Stamens 

 5 - 12, minute and mostly abortive. Ovary crowned with the 5 - 6-cleft limb of the calyx, 

 3 - 6-celled, with a single ovule in each cell, in fruit becoming a 1-seeded coriaceous nut. 

 Involucre of the fruit coriaceous, echinate, 4-lobed, containing 1-3 nuts. — Trees or shrubs, 

 with serrate or entire feather-veined leaves ; the sterile aments clustered and very long. 



1. Castanea vesca, var. Americana, Michx. (Plate CXI.) Chestnut. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, mucronately serrate, smooth on both sides. — Michx. 

 fl. 2. p. 193 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 624 ; Ell. sic. 2. p. 614 ; Nutt. gen. 2. p. 217 ; Torr. com- 

 pend. p. 355 ; Darlingt.fi. Cest. p. 536. C. vesca, Michx. f. sylv. 2. t. 104 ; Bigel. fl. 

 Bost. p. 349 ; Beck, hot. p. 332. 



A tall tree, sometimes 60 - 80 feet high and 3-4 feet in diameter. Leaves 6-8 inches 

 long and about two inches wide, bright green, pubescent when young, but quite smooth when 

 old. Sterile aments 4-8 inches long ; the numerous flowers white or cream color, emitting 

 an unpleasant odor. Calyx 6-parted. Stamens mostly 12, longer than the calyx. Fertile 

 involucres solitary or several in a cluster, scaly, at length very large, globose, and covered 

 with slender compound rigid prickles, enclosing three nuts, one or two of which are often 

 abortive. Limb of the calyx produced above the ovary into a slender tube, which is 6 - 8- 

 parted at the summit. Nuts varying in form according to the number in an involucre : when 

 there are two, each will be compressed on the inside ; and when three are perfected, the 

 middle one will be flattened on each side. 



Woods ; common south of Lake Champlain, but scarce in the northern and western parts 

 of the State. Fl. June. Fr. October. The American Chestnut differs from the European 

 chiefly in the much smaller nuts. The wood is coarse-grained, light and very durable, and 

 is much valued for fencing. It makes very poor fuel, on account of its violent snapping while 

 it burns. 



25* 



