American Chestnut

Growth habit

Tree

Perennation

Short-lived perennial

Native distribution

Native to the Finger Lakes Region, Maine to Alabama

Location

Mundy Wildflower Garden, Schnee Oak Collection, Bald Hill and Caroline Pinnacles, Cayuta Lake, Ringwood Ponds, South Hill Swamp

Source of plant

The American Chestnut Foundation, Allen Nichols, Stanley Scharf

Description

Tree to 45m with trunk to 4m in diameter. Young shoots glabrous or slightly scurfy at first. Leaves 14-22 x 4-5cm, dull green, glabrous above and beneath, oblong-lanceolate, cuneate, apex acuminate, margins with large, glandular teeth; petiole 1cm. Male catkins 10-20cm. Fruits clustered 1-3, a globose burr 5-7cm diameter, with dense slender spines; nuts mostly 2-3 in a burr.

USDA Hardiness Zone

4

Status

L3|S4|G4