CHESTNUT
Castanea dentata, (Marsh) Borkh.
Form.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 3-5 feet; trunk, in close stands with few low branches and little taper; in the open having a short trunk and rounded crown.
Leaves.—Alternate, simple, oblong-lanceolate, taper-pointed, 6-8 inches long; coarsely serrate with incurved teeth, thin, dull, yellow-green, glabrous.
Flowers.—June-July; monoecious, the staminate borne in bunches at intervals on long catkins; the pistillate borne in scattered involucres near the base of the upper catkins.
Fruit.—A large prickly bur, opening at its four sutures in early autumn; nuts usually 2-3, compressed, ½-1 inch wide, brown, sweet and edible.
Bark.—Moderately rough, with shallow fissures and flat-topped ridges, gray-brown.
Wood.—Soft, light, not strong, easily split and worked, coarse-grained, durable, red-brown with light sapwood.