64 



Common Trees 



CHESTNUT 



Castanea dentata, (Marshall) Bork. 



NO TREE has brought more real joy to boys and girls, and 

 grown folks than the Chestnut. To go a-nutting for 

 Chestnuts is among the best of outdoor sports. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, 6 to 8 inches long, sharp- 

 pointed and coarsely-toothed. 

 The flowers appear in 

 June or July. They 

 are arranged in slender, 

 yellowish-white, pencil- 

 like plumes. The seed- 

 producing occur in small 

 numbers near the base of 

 the plumes. 



The fruit is a prickly 

 bur with 1 to 5 nuts 

 maturing in September 

 or October. 



The bark on branches 

 and small trunks is 

 smooth, brownish and 

 close - fitting ; on old 

 trunks becomes grayish- 

 brown and deeply fur- 

 rowed. The twigs are 

 smooth, greenish to 

 brown, dotted with nu- 

 merous small white 

 breathing pores. The 

 buds are alternate, }i of 

 an inch long, blunt- 

 pointed, covered with 2 

 to 3 chestnut - brown 

 scales. 



The wood is light, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, dur- 

 able. It is used for posts, poles, ties, general construction and 

 interior finish. 



The Chestnut is found from Maine to Michigan, and 

 south to the Carolinas and Georgia and Arkansas. This 

 tree is common locally across New York south of the Adi- 

 rondacks, but rare or absent in pine barrens of Long Island, 

 and infrequent on soils rich in lime. The deadly Chestnut 

 Blight has killed practically all trees of commercial size. 



CHESTNUT 



One-fourth natural sire. 

 Twig sections and single flowers, enlarged 



