296 ' TREES IN" WINTER 



CHESTNUT 



Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. 

 C. sativGj var. americana Sarg. ; C. vesca, var. americana Michx. 



HABIT — A large tree, 60-80 ft. in height with trunk diameter of 5-6 

 ft. or larger; in the forest, trunk tall and slender, in the open, trunk 

 short and thick generally tapering rapidly from point of branching 

 into top of tree; lower branches horizontal or declining, often gnarled 

 and twisted, upper branches arising at a sharper angle, forming a low, 

 open, broad, spreading, rounded, ovate head often as broad as high. 

 Young branches tend to bend up from all sides and give an even-edged 

 outline to the tree as if the head had been trimmed like a round- 

 topped hedge. The Chestnut, wjien cut, sprouts readily from the stump 

 and in consequence in wood-lots Chestnut trees are most commonly to 

 be found in groups of 2-4 or even more surrounding the old stump from 

 which they originally sprouted. (See plate.) 



BARK — On young trunks and branches smooth, reddish-bronze, often 

 shining; with age broken by shallow fissures into long, broad, flat, 

 more or less oblique ridges. 



TWIGS — Stout, generally straight, greenish-yellow or reddish-brown, 

 smooth, round or somewhat angled from base and outer edges of leaf- 

 scars; somewhat swollen at nodes. LENTICELS — Numerous, conspicu- 

 ous, forming minute, raised, white dots. PITH — 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



L.EAF-SCARS — Sometimes distinctly 2-ranked, generally more than 

 2-ranked. raised, semioval. STIPULE-SCARS — narrow, triangular, often 

 inconspicuous. BUNDLE-SCARS — scattered, inconspicuous, if leaf-scar 

 is surface-sectioned bundle-scars are found in two small lateral clus- 

 ters and a large more or less circular basal cluster, 



BUDS — Small, ovate, light to dark chestnut brown, 4-6 mm. long, 

 often oblique to the leaf-scar; terminal bud generally absent, the end 

 of the twig being marked by a small scar and the bud at end of twig 

 being in the axil of the upperruost leaf-scar. BUD-SCALES — 2-3 only 

 visible, thin-margined. 



FRUIT — A large, round bur, sharp-spiny without and hairy within, 

 opening by 4 valves. Photograph of bur reduced to about i/^ natural 

 size. NUTS — generally 3 (1-5), dark brown, white-downy at apex, 

 ovate, flattened where in contact with other nuts; seed — sweet, edible. 



COMPARISONS — From the appearance of gnarled old specimens 

 grown in the open, the Chestnut might be taken for one of the Oaks. 

 Its pith, further, is star-shaped but its buds are not clustered at ends 

 of the twigs as in Oaks and have only 2-3 scales visible. At times 

 the buds of the Chestnut have a 2-ranked arrangement and 

 in this condition the twigs alone might be confused with 

 those of the Linden (which see under Comparisons). Since 

 the tree begins b'^^aring early and the characteristic burs remain on 

 the ground, the fruit is a valuable winter character. The bark in 

 middle-aged trees resembles somewhat that of the Red Oak. If the 

 bark is blazed the wood exposed does not show the short clear lines 

 r'^nresenting medullary rays in tangential section seen in Oaks under 

 similar treatment. 



DISTRIBUTION — In strong, well-drained soil; pastures, rocky woods, 

 and hillsides. Ontario, common; south to Delaware, along the moun- 

 tains to Alabama; west to Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — southern sections, probably not indi- 

 genous north of latitude 44° 20'; New Hampshire — Connecticut valley 

 near the river as far north as Windsor, Vt. ; most abundant in the Mer- 

 rimac valley south of Concord, but occasional a short distance north- 

 ward; Vermont — common in the southern sections, especially in the Con- 

 necticut valley; occasional as far north as Windsor, West Rutland, 

 Burlington; Massachusetts — rather common throughout the state, but 

 less frequent near the sea; Connecticut and Rhode Island — common. 



W^OOD — Light, soft, not very strong, liable to check and warp in 

 drying, easily split, durable in contact with the soil, reddish-brown 

 w^ith thin lighter colored sapwood of 3 or 4 layers of annual growth; 

 used largely in the manufacture of cheap furniture and in the interior 

 finish of houses for railroad ties, piling, fence posts, and rails. The 

 nuts, which are superior to those of the Old World Chestnut in flavor 

 and sweetness, are gathered in great quantities in the forest and sold 

 in the cities. 



