Part 34

+Chestnut+

Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. [Castanea vesca, v. americana 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, pubescent; stamens 10-20; the androgynous catkins 2-1/2-5 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 1/4 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. Difficult to transplant. Subject to a disease which threatens extermination in this country.

+SUMMER KEY TO THE SPECIES OF QUERCUS+

a. Leaves deeply cut or lobed.

b. Leaf-lobes acute, bristle-tipped; fruit maturing in the second season.

c. Lower surface of leaves more or less pubescent.

d. Leaf-lobes usually 7; buds hoary-tomentose; bark of trunk deeply furrowed and scaly; inner bark yellow; cup-scales of acorn hoary-pubescent; nut ovoid; large tree, common in Michigan. Q. velutina, p. 117.

dd. Leaf-lobes usually 3 (at apex of the leaf only); buds rusty-hairy; bark of trunk divided into nearly square plates; inner bark not yellow; cup-scales of acorn rusty-tomentose; nut subglobose; shrubby tree, rare in Michigan. Q. marilandica, p. 119.

cc. Lower surface of leaves glabrous or nearly so.

d. Cup of acorn top-shaped or cup-shaped, inclosing one-third to one-half of the nut.

e. Kernel of nut yellow; buds glabrous, lustrous, slightly angular; inner bark of trunk yellow; trunk provided with pins or stubs of dead branches near the ground. Q. ellipsoidalis, p. 115.

ee. Kernel of nut whitish; buds pubescent above the middle, not angular; inner bark of trunk red; trunk not provided with pins or stubs of branches near the ground. Q. coccinea, p. 113.

dd. Cup of acorn saucer-shaped, inclosing only the base of the nut.

e. Upper surface of leaves usually lustrous, especially on the lower branches; lowermost branches of trees growing in the open drooping nearly to the ground; nut about 1/2 inch long Q. palustris, p. 111.

ee. Upper surface of leaves usually dull; lowermost branches of trees growing in the open not drooping; nut about 1 inch long. Q. rubra, p. 109.

bb. Leaf-lobes rounded, not bristle-tipped; fruit maturing in the first season.

c. Leaves cut nearly to the midrib by a pair of deep sinuses near the middle of the leaf; branches corky-ridged; nut 1/2-1-1/2 inches long, deeply seated in a large, conspicuously fringed cup. Q. macrocarpa, p. 103.

cc. Leaves not cut by a pair of deep sinuses; branches not corky-ridged; nut about 3/4 inch long, about one-fourth covered by a thin, tomentose, warty cup. Q. alba, p. 101.