The American Chestnut is a legendary tree, and an especially rare one too.
The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is an uncommon species of tree native to the very southernmost parts of Canada comprising the Carolinian forest biome. This small part of Canada comprises only 1.5% of its land area but a large amount of population including cities like Toronto, Hamilton, London, Windsor and Niagara Falls. This area is known for its hot summers and almost pure deciduous hardwood forests.
The tree is in the beech family, and shares characteristics with its cousins sweet chestnut and Chinese chestnut. The leaves are long, alternate and about 10-20cm with many-toothed margins. The latin 'dentata' refers to the teeth of the leaves, which are manyfold.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this tree is its fruit - the chestnut. It's a nut contained in a spiny husk that is a bright green colour, nothing else in the forest looks like it. In my opinion, the spiky outer shell looks a little like a sea urchin.
The American chestnut is a legendary tree in all respects. Not only was it once the tallest hardwood tree in the eastern forests of North America, it was in fact one of the most predominant ones, especially in mountainous areas. It is thought that 1/3 trees in eastern North America were chestnut prior to the blight.
The Chestnut blight is the cause of the destruction of most of the original chestnut forests. It is thought the fungus came from an infected Japanese chestnut tree around 1904 in the Bronx Zoo in New York City. Being largely immune to the fungus, the Japanese and Chinese chestnuts are planted today instead of American chestnuts. However there are specimens remaining in the forest that have proven highly resistant to the fungus, and may serve the basis for a renewed population of American chestnut trees.
A mature, healthy, fruiting specimen of American chestnut in the Dundas valley. It's approximately 50cm across and shows the characteristic interwoven ridges of chestnut bark. A rare find in this diverse forest woodland. Prior to the blight, a chestnut tree could grow for hundreds of years and were prized for their wood, known to be tough, durable and rot-resistant. Several chestnut log cabins are still standing today in various places in the Appalachians.
The old-timers of Appalachia had a saying:
"Where there be mountains, there be chestnuts!"
All photos are taken by myself and released under CC0 (Public Domain) to the community.
That is a nice big chestnut -- how special to have that around! My parents in Arkansas have a scrawny chestnut tree. It keeps dying back after growing to a certain size -- but it puts on chestnuts every year. So even though it's more like a chestnut bush these days, it still is good for chestnuts.
I can't even imagine how wonderful those old eastern hardwood forests must have been. I've read about 200 foot tall black walnut trees, with no branches for 40 or 50 feet up. And sycamore trees wide enough that people could carve a room in the trunk of the standing tree. That would have been something to experience!
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Thanks for your great reply. I think that you should keep those chestnut seeds and try to plant them! Out west there is no blight to speak of and several American chestnuts have survived hundreds of years.
I share your thoughts on the primeval forest of the east. Only the Eastern White Pine could rival American Chestnut in size and stature, but it is a softwood and of course has the advantage of fast growth.
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That's a great idea about planting some chestnut seeds from my parent's tree in Arkansas. My neighbor has a gigantic American Elm that has escaped Dutch Elm Disease, so maybe I can be a Chestnut refuge. They are tasty! Thanks for the idea!
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