Chestnut

a nut-bearing tree closely related to the oaks and beeches. A flattening of the sides of the fruit is due to their clustering two to three in a cup. The European chestnut is larger and coarser in taste than ours. The Japanese nut is smaller and of inferior quality. The American chestnut is a straight forest tree, 100 feet in height, with cream colored, heavy scented flowers, accused of causing hay fever. The flowers appear in June and July. After heavy autumn frosts the rough prickly burs, which correspond to acorn cups, open and "the sound of falling nuts is heard." Two dwarf chestnuts, or chinquapins, the one, in the main, eastern, and the other southern, bear a solitary nut in each bur. They are earlier than the tree chestnut. They are delightfully sweet and wholesome. In southern Europe chestnuts are ground into a coarse meal for bread. The chestnut tree is long lived. A very large tree on Mount Etna has a girth of 208 feet. Chestnut timber lasts like oak. The bark is valued by the tanner. In allusion to a worm-eaten chestnut, the term "chestnut" is applied to a worn out pun, stale joke, an old anecdote, or to a statement repeated so often as to lose its hold on the hearer's interest. See Nuts