The simple, alternate, oblong-ovate LEAVES are 3 to 4 inches long, pointed at the tip, and coarsely toothed and hairy along the margin. When mature, they are almost leathery in texture. The beech produces a dense shade. The light brown winter buds are long, slender, and pointed. [Illustration: AMERICAN BEECH (Fruit, leaves, and twig, one-half natural size)] The BARK is, perhaps, the most distinctive characteristic, as it maintains an unbroken, light gray surface throughout its life. The little, brown, three-sided FRUITS or beechnuts are almost as well known as chestnuts. The nuts are in pairs in a prickly involucre. The kernel is sweet and edible. The fallen fruit, known as mast, is a favorite food of wildlife. The WOOD of the beech is hard, strong, and tough, though it will not last long on exposure to weather or in the soil. The tree is of economic importance as a lumber tree, the wood being used for furniture, flooring, carpenters’ tools, and novelty wares. ALLEGHENY CHINKAPIN Castanea pumila Mill. Chinkapins may grow as trees or form shrubby thickets; consequently their identification is at times confusing. Some taxonomists credit East Texas with one species and a variety. Others list four species. Further study is needed. C. pumila grows in dry woods, sandy ridges, and on borders of swamps from Florida to East Texas north to Ark., Tenn., Pa., and N. J. It may grow into a small tree 10 to 30 feet high and may reach 50 feet. If burned back by fires, it may send out stolons or sprouts and form dense shrubby growths. BRANCHLETS pubescent, gradually changing to a lustrous olive-green or orange-brown, then darker. The LEAVES are 4 to 6 inches long, 1½ to 2 inches wide, oblong to ovate and acute, the margin coarsely toothed with slender, rigid, spreading or incurved teeth. Base of leaf unequal, either rounded or wedge-shaped. Leaf at first tomentose above and below, later yellow-green above and whitish-downy below. Petiole short, stout, and flattened on the upper side. FRUIT a single brown, ovoid, pointed, plump, sweet, edible nut, ¾ to 1 inch long, encased in a bur covered with erect, crowded spines approximately ¾ inch long. WOOD light, hard, strong, coarse-grained; used for fence posts and railway ties. Of little economic importance because of its relative scarcity. C. pumila is a nut-producing tree of potential commercial importance. [Illustration: ALLEGHENY CHINKAPIN (Fruit, leaves and twig, two-thirds natural size)] ASHE CHINKAPIN (C. pumila var. ashei Sudw.) is a small tree of dry sandy soils. Leaves are felt-like below. This variety is distinguished by its bur which has scattered, forked, and horizontally divergent bristles. The surface of the bur has smooth areas free of bristles.