Preface 

 

THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT has been a central part of the ecosystem both in Central New York and the rest of the eastern United States, providing a reliable and largely irreplaceable harvest for wildlife. And as a major provider of food and timber for humans due to its abundance, the chestnut has become an integral part of American culture and history until it was almost completely extirpated by a fungal blight in the early twentieth century. Since its demise, efforts have been underway to reintroduce this species to its native habitat, including in Ithaca, New York.

 

Classification 

 

The American chestnut (Castanea dentata), a deciduous or leaf-shedding tree native to the eastern United States, ranges from Mississippi to Maine. The genus Castanea (a Latin word for chestnut) translates into “fruit” in many European languages, alluding to this tree’s bountiful and nutritious nuts that this tree produces. For this reason, the chestnut holds a special place in American art and folklore. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s village blacksmith plies his trade “under [a] spreading chestnut tree.” And the expression “an old chestnut”, which refers to an often-told tale, stems from the tree’s annual crop.  

 

History 

 

At the turn of the twentieth century, imported chestnut trees from Asia introduced the fungal blight Cryphonectria parasitica. Once infected, a tree quickly forms a canker that girdles the trunk, and suffocates the tree. Although the Asian chestnut could resist this scourge, the American chestnut— belonging to the same family but geographically and evolutionarily separate—could not. The blight decimated the native population. Once a dominant hardwood covering 25% of American forest canopy, the American chestnut is now threatened with extinction.

 

Features 

 

All chestnut trees can be identified by two main features: leaf structure and fruit. Castanea dentata leaves are generally 14-20 cm long, and 7-10 cm wide, with teeth on their edges. The fruit of Castanea dentata are covered in a sharp, spiked husk that contains 2 to 3 nuts, which although rounded have one or two flattened sides. Often confused with its cousin the American beech, Castanea dentata can be distinguished by its saw-like edges, which are much deeper and pronounced, as opposed to the beech whose teeth are sparser. Hence the chestnut’s biological name “dentata,” which is Latin for “toothed”.