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.