FAGACEAE 
Chestnut 
Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. [Castanea vesca, v. ameri- 
cana Michx.] [Castanea sativa, v. americana Sarg.] 
HABIT.—A tree 60-80 feet high, forming a short, straight 
trunk 2-4 feet in diameter, divided not far above the ground 
into several stout, horizontal limbs and forming a broad, open, 
rounded crown. 
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 6-8 inches long, 2-3 inches 
broad; oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed at the apex; coarsely 
serrate with stout, incurved, glandular teeth; thin; dull yellow- 
green above, lighter beneath, glabrous; petioles short, stout, 
puberulous. 
FLOWERS.—June-July, after the leaves; monoecious; the 
staminate catkins 6-8 inches long, slender, puberulous, bearing 
3-7-flowered cymes of yellow-green flowers; calyx 6-cleft, pube- 
scent; stamens 10-20; the androgynous catkins 2%4-5 inches long, 
puberulous, bearing 2-3 prickly involucres of pistillate flowers 
near their base; calyx campanulate, 6-lobed; styles 6. 
FRUIT.—Ripens in autumn; round, thick, prickly burs, 
about 2 inches in diameter, containing 1-3 nuts; nuts compressed, 
brownish, coated with whitish down at the apex; sweet and 
edible. 
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud absent; lateral buds %4 
inch long, ovoid, acute, brownish. 
BARK.—Twigs lustrous, yellow-green, becoming olive- green 
and finally dark brown; old trunks gray-brown, with shallow 
fissures and broad, flat ridges. 
WOOD.—Light, soft, coarse-grained, weak, easily split, very 
durable in contact with the soil, red-brown, with very thin, 
lighter colored sapwood. 
DISTRIBUTION.—South-eastern Michigan, as far north 
as St. Clair County. Abundant in eastern Monroe County and 
Wayne County. 
HABITAT.—Pastures; hillsides; glacial drift; well-drained, 
gravelly or rocky soil. 
NOTES.—A rapid grower and living to a great age. Diffi- 
cult to transplant. Subject to a disease which threatens exter- 
mination in this country. 
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