biG. I. Japanese Chestnut, Tamba-Kuri. Full Size. 



THE ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAN"— V. 



EDIBLE NUTS. 



APANESE CHESTNUTS.— C AS - 

 TANEA Japonica, Blume [Cas/anea 

 vulgaris, Lamarck, var. Japonica, 

 DC); Jap., Kurt, Saiidoguri. 

 Figs. I and 2. The chestnut is a 

 widely distributed genus. It is 

 found wild from the Black Sea to 

 Portugal ; it is cultivated all over 

 Europe, and has become partly wild in central Eu- 

 rope and England ; it is found in northern Africa, 

 in the Caucasus, and elsewhere in western Asia ; it 

 is a favorite nut throughout the temperate regions 

 of North America, and it is also found both wild 

 and cultivated on all the larger Japanese islands. 

 De Candolle regards all the forms as mere varieties 

 of the European species. Savatier calls attention 

 to a character which he says differentiates the Jap- 



anese plant : the under side of the leaves is covered 

 with white, woolly hairs. It has also appeared to 

 me that the upper side of the leaves is less smooth 

 and glistening, darker green on the Japanese varieties 

 than is the case with those grown in Europe and 

 America. 



There are several varieties in Japan, and the one that 

 is of most interest to us, the ' ' Giant Japan Chestnut, " is 

 already well known here. It is known in Japan by the 

 name of Tantha-Kuri, from the district of Tamba, not so 

 very far from the ancient capital of Kioto, where it has 

 its home and where it attains its greatest size. It is un- 

 doubtedly the largest variety of the chestnut in existence. 

 The illustrations (Figs, i and 2) show a bur and nut of 

 this variety from a tree grown in Tokio. AUhough of 

 good size, they are not so large as specimens I have seen 

 from its native district, where climate and soil appear to 



* Copyrighted by Author. 



