Castanea

( Bot. ) The Chestnut-tree, or Sweet-chestnut, a genus of plants, order Corylacea. The species a vesca is a deciduous tree of considerable size, with long shining serrated sharp-pointed leaves, clusters of long The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia Fig . 531.-AMERICAN CHESTNUT-TREE. (Castanea vesca.) spikes of pale-greenish yellow, unisexual, minute flowers having no corolla, and fruits consisting of a roundish prickly husk or involucre, technically called a cupula, and analogous to the cup of the acorn or the beard of the filbert, in which are contained one or more dark-brown ovate sharp-pointed nuts, each of which conceals a large sin- gle seed, and is tip- ped by the remains of several rigid styles. The seeds contain a large quantity of nutri- tive starchy matter of a sweet flavor, on which account chestnuts are ex- tensively used as food in the coun- tries where the tree abounds. The Amer- IMG:content-0080.jpg:[graphic] ican variety, abundantly found in the mountainous parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the two Carol in as, northern Georgia, ., has smaller, but sweeter nuts than those of the European, (the Spanish Chestnut.) The timber is coarse-grained, strong, elastic, light and very durable; hence much used for posts, .