132 



A DISCOURSE 



CHAPTER V. 



The BEECH\ 



BOOK I. 1. FaGUS, the BEECH. I rank this before the martial Ash, because 

 it commonly grows to a greater stature. It is of two or three kinds, and 

 is numbered among the glandiferous trees. But here I may not omit a 



* The Beech is a beautiful as well as a valuable tree. The leaves are of a pleasant 

 green, and many of them remain on the branches during the winter, when they present 

 themselves of a brown colour ; for this reason this tree is proper to shelter habitations, 

 and such places as require to be screened from violent winds. It may be planted either in 

 woods or open fields, in both which stations it grows to a considerable height, and carries 

 with it a proportionable trunk. In hedge-rows and the borders of fields it spreads its 

 branches to an amazing extent. Of this genus there are three species. 



1. FAGUS (SYLVATJCA ) foliis ovatis obsolete serratis. Sp. Plant. 1416. Fagus. Bauh. 

 Pin. 1419. The beech tree. 



This is the common Beech, of which the buds begin to open about the 15th of April, and the 

 leaves come out about the 21st. The flowers show themselves about the 12th of May, and 

 by the 4th of June they are in full bloom. These are succeeded by the mast, an angular fruit, 

 which is ripe in the autumn. 



2. FAGUS CcASTANEA ) foliis lanceolatis acuminato-serratis subtus nudis. Lin. Sp. 

 PI. 1416. Castanea Sativa. Bauh. Pin. 418. The chestnut. 



This is the Spanish Chestnut which is particularly described in book i. ch. viii. 



3. FAGUS Cpvmila ) foliis lanceolato-ovatis acute serratis subtus tomentosis, amends 

 filiformibus nodosis. Gron. Virg. 150. Castanea Pumila Virginiana, racemoso fructu 

 parvo in singulis capsulis echinatis unico. Pluk. Aim. 90. Catesb. Car. i. p. 9' The 



CHINQUAPIN. 



This species is called the Dwarf Chestnut, and grows to the height of ten feet. The stem is 

 of a brown colour, and divides into several branches near the top. The leaves, as described, 

 are of an oval, spear-shaped figure, acutely serrated, with an hoary cast on their underside. 

 The flowers come out in the spring in slender knotted catkins. They are of a greenish co- 

 lour, and are rarely succeeded by ripe seeds in this country. This kind is very hardy, and 

 thrives in a moist soil and shady situation. 



The Beech, in the Linnaean system, is ranked in the class and order Monoecia Polyandria, 

 wliich comprehends such plants as have male and female flowers upon the same plant, the 

 male flowers having numerous stamina. 



