American Chestnut
 

Mature Size, Growth, Longevity

National champion in Washington is 70' X 70'. In the past, to 100', w/ wide-spreading branches & broad rounded crown. Today, most woodland trees get about 25' before chestnut blight kills. Medium to fast growth rate. Before the chestnut blight was introduced, trees were commonly long-lived, to 200 years. But now longevity is usually short due to the disease.

Native Range

Kentucky Native — American Chestnut was native from southern Maine to Michigan, south to Alabama and Mississippi, including much of Kentucky. Cultivated since 1800.

Flower and Fruit Details

Flowers creamy white/pale yellow, monoecious, unpleasant odor. Male flowers erect, cylindrical catkins Female flowers 3/cluster on lower part of the upper staminate catkins, in 4-8" panicles in June. Rounded fruits w/ prickly burs/slender spines, 2-3", w/ 2-3 edible nuts inside. Fruits generally sweeter & more tasty than Asiatic species.

Leaf and Bark Features

Deciduous: Alternate, oblong-lanceolate leaves, 5-8" (to 11") long, 1 3/4 to 2-3 inches wide, w/ coarse teeth around margin, long-pointed at tip, glandular, shiny on top, dark green, glabrous on both sides when larger, w/ a 1/2" petiole. Fall color is bright, clear yellow/golden yellow-brown. Young stems & buds are chestnut brown. Bark shallowly furrowed, w/ wide, flat-topped platy ridges. Older bark deeply furrowed, gray-brown, w/ ashy-gray plates.

Culture and Care

Needs full sun & acid soil. Avoid low, wet areas & soil compaction. Tolerates clay & drought. Zones 4-8. By the 1950's, most of the large chestnut trees across the United States had been destroyed by the Chestnut Blight fungus, which continues to kill stump sprouts that grow in the woods.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Other Facts

New hybrids w/ Chinese & Japanese Chestnuts show much promise for extended longevity of the American Chestnut, offering various levels of resistance to the chestnut blight fungus. 3-season interest: Spring, summer & fall. Weak-wooded, easily broken. Since the Chestnut Blight fungus was first identified in New York in 1904, the American Chestnut as a large tree has basically been eliminated from American forests, other than the stump sprouts, which continue sprouting and reaching heights of about 25'.

Suggested Uses

Has been used for timber and nut production in the past, as well as a source for tannins for leather.

Taxa and Plants of this Species at BCA