CHAPTER IV 



CHESTNUTS 



AMONG the chestnut trees in our country the 

 American chestnut, Castanea dentata, is the largest. 

 The chinkapin occurs in two forms. Castanea pum- 

 ila is a bush seldom growing more than fifteen feet 

 in height in its eastern range, but west of the Missis- 

 sippi it occurs in tree form, Castanea pumila arbori- 

 formis, the tree in favorable soil reaching a height 

 of sixty feet. Castanea alnifolia, the alderleaf chest- 

 nut, is a shrub which sometimes assumes a trailing 

 form. Another form in some localities makes a 

 tree forty feet high. It belongs to our southwest 

 in open pine woods, but is fairly hardy as far north 

 as Massachusetts. The chestnuts which have been 

 introduced into this country are the Japanese chest- 

 nut, C. crenata; the European chestnut, C. saliva, 

 and the Chinese chestnut, C. mollissima. 



Allied to the chestnut we have two species of the 

 evergreen Castanopsis of the Pacific slope. 



AMERICAN CHESTNUT 



Our magnificent American chestnut forests are 

 now being wiped out by the blight Endothia para- 



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