Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHEST'NUT-TREE, n.

Castanea vesca; the tree which produces the chestnut. This tree grows to a great size, with spreading branches. It is of the most valuable timber trees, as the wood is very durable, and forms in America the principal timber for fencing. The timber is also used in building, and for vessels of various kinds. Dwarf-chestnut, or chinkapin, is another species of Castanea. Horse-chestnut, is a tree of the genus Æsculus. The common tree of this sort is a native of the north of Asia, and admired for the beauty of its flowers. It is used for shade and ornament, and its nuts are esteemed good food for horses. The scarlet-flowering horse-chestnut is a native of Carolina, Brazil and the East, and is admired for its beauty. The Italian Rose-chestnut, of the genus Mesua, bears a nut, roundish, pointed, and marked with four elevated longitudinal sutures. – Encyc. Fam. of Plants.