82 
NEW SYLVA 
diffuse fuscate, leaves petiolate ovate acute sub- 
serrate undulate, smooth glossy yellowish, mar- 
gin villose, peduncles filiform villose, nuts ovate 
angles obtuse — Europe and Sibiria. Var. san- 
guined leaves red. 
694. Fagus asplenifolia Raf. Leaves ovate 
serrate laciniate or lanceolate lobulate — Eu- 
rope and Sibiria, a small tree. 
695. Castanea vesca W. P. Dec. &,c. Fa- 
gus castanea L. <$*c. Leaves petiolate lanceo- 
late acuminate, serrate by mu cron ate uncinate 
teeth, smooth beneath, capsules echinate dis- 
perme, nuts large dimidiate smooth mealy in- 
side — South of Europe, very large tree, nuts 4 
times as large as ours, darker, farinaceous not 
oily, one side flat, the other convex. 
696. Castanea Americana Raf. 1804. vesca 
var. amer. W. P. and the Amer, botanists. 
Branchlets fuscate rugose, leaves petiolate o- 
blong lanceol. acum. remotely mucronate ser- 
rate, beneath glaucous and smooth (pubescent 
in young leaves,) aments fasciculate splcate in- 
terrupted glomerate, capsules echinate 3-5seed- 
ed, nuts small ovate apex villose acute, coryla- 
ceous sweet inside — All over North America 
from Canada to Louisiana and Origon, quite a 
peculiar Sp. ascertained by me since 1804 in 
my fl. columbica. A smaller tree than the Eu- 
ropean only 40 to 60 feet high, growing in dry 
and rocky ridges and Mts. leaves 4 to 8 inches 
long, fruits quite unlike the European Chesnuts, 
small similar to filberds in size and taste, sweet 
oily, and edible raw, while the European must 
be boiled or roasted being acerb. Nuttal has 
well described the fructification. Var. 1. an- 
gusti folia Raf. Leaves very long and narrow 
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