American Forestry 



VOL. XXI 



OCTOBER. 1915 



No. 262 



The American Chestnut Tree 



By Samuel B. Detwiler 



Identification and Characteristics 



OUR native chestnut tree is one of our best known 

 and best loved trees because of its beauty and 

 utility. It grows from southeastern Maine west 

 tc southern Michigan and south to northern Virginia, 

 southern Indiana and along the Appalachian Mountains 

 to northern Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. The 

 bright foliage, attractively-shaped leaves, toothsome nuts 

 and stately form give distinction and character to this 

 highly valuable commercial tree of our forests. 



The finest chestnut trees in the world are found in 

 the southern Appala- 

 chian Mountains, espe- 

 cially in western North 

 Carolina and eastern 

 Tennessee. A tree with 

 a diameter of 17 feet 

 has been recorded 

 from Francis Cove, 

 North Carolina. Com- 

 monly, the mature trees 

 are 3 to 5 feet in di- 

 ameter and 60 to 90 

 feet in height, but 

 there are numerous 

 specimens T feet or 

 more in diameter, 100 

 to 120 feet high. In 

 Pennsylvania, New 

 York and the New 

 England States chest- 

 nut trees have mostly 

 grown from stump 

 sprouts, and are there- 

 fore comparatively 

 small. 



When growing in the 

 forest, a chestnut tree 

 will bear only a mod- 

 erate amount of shade, 

 and the crowding of 

 adjoining trees causes 

 the early death of the 

 lower branches. For 



From "The Silva of North America" by Sargent; Houghton Mifflin Co., Publishers. 

 LEAF AND FRUIT OF CHESTNUT 



1. Fruitingbranch. 2. Spines (enlarged). 3 and 4. Nuts. 5. Vertical section of a 

 nut. 6. Kernel of nut or seed. 7. End of young twig with new leaves and un- 

 developed flowers, 8. Winter branch. 9. Bud and leaf scar. 



this reason forest-grown chestnut trees nearly always 

 liave long, straight, clear trunks, branching out into 

 rather small, rounded tops. In the open the trunk is 

 short, dividing into three or four heavy horizontal 

 branches to form a broad, beautifully rounded head. 



The chestnut has many features that distinguish it 

 from its neighbors at every season of the year. Its 

 grayish brown bark somewhat resembles that of the red 

 oak because of the broad, flat, irregular ridges, but is 

 readily known by the darker gray color, deeper fissures, 



and the smaller and 

 more flaky scales of 

 bark on the ridges. 

 Very young trees have 

 smooth bark. Later the 

 ridges develop, sepa- 

 rated by shallow fis- 

 sures, and in old age 

 these fissures become 

 quite deep. 



The buds are one of 

 the best means of iden- 

 tifying this tree in win- 

 ter. They are dark 

 brown, about one-quar- 

 ter inch long, egg- 

 shaped but usually 

 sharply pointed. The 

 buds stand singly on 

 strong- growing 

 branches. Every fifth 

 bud stands directly 

 above the one from 

 which counting begins, 

 and if a string is drawn 

 from bud to bud it will 

 form a spiral, passing 

 twice around the 

 branch from the first 

 bud to the fifth one. 



After most of the 

 trees have well devel- 

 oped foliage, but be- 

 957 



