× Castanea neglecta Dode with leaves intermediate between those of C. dentata and C. pumila and an involucre containing a single large nut occurs on the Blue Ridge near Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina.
2. [Castanea pumila] Mill. Chinquapin.
Leaves oblong-elliptic to oblong-obovate, acute, coarsely serrate, with slender rigid spreading or incurved teeth, gradually narrowed and usually unequal and rounded or cuneate at base, when they unfold tinged with red and coated above with pale caducous tomentum and below with thick snowy white tomentum, at maturity rather thick and firm in texture, bright yellow-green on the upper surface, hoary or silvery pubescent on the lower, 3′—5′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; turning dull yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, flattened on the upper side, ¼′—½′ long; stipules light yellow-green, pubescent, those of the 2 lowest leaves broad, ovate, acute, covered at apex by rufous tomentum, on later leaves ovate-lanceolate, often oblique and acute, becoming linear at the end of the branch. Flowers: staminate aments ½′ long when they first appear, pubescent, green below, bright red at apex, becoming when fully grown 4′—6′ long, with stout hoary tomentose stems and crowded or scattered flower-clusters; androgynous aments silvery tomentose, 3′—4′ long; involucres 1-flowered, scattered at the base of the ament or often spicate and covering its lower half, sessile or short-stalked. Fruit: involucre 1′—1½′ in diameter, with thin walls covered with crowded fascicles of slender spines tomentose toward the base; nut ovoid, terete, rounded at the slightly narrowed base, gradually narrowed and pointed at apex, more or less coated with silvery white pubescence, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous, ¾′—1′ long, ⅓′ thick, with a thin shell lined with a coat of lustrous hoary tomentum, and a sweet seed.
A round-topped tree, rarely 50° high, with a short straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, slender spreading branches, and branchlets coated at first with pale tomentum, becoming during their first winter pubescent or remaining tomentose at the apex, bright red-brown, glabrous, lustrous, olive-green or orange-brown during their second season and ultimately darker; east of the Mississippi River often a shrub spreading into broad thickets by prolific stolons, with numerous intricately branched stems often only 4° or 5° tall. Winter-buds ovoid, or oval, about ⅛′ long, clothed when they first appear in summer with thick hoary tomentum, becoming red during the winter and scurfy-pubescent. Bark ½′—1′ thick, light brown tinged with red, slightly furrowed and broken on the surface into loose plate-like scales. Wood light, hard, strong, coarse-grained, dark brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood of 3 or 4 layers of annual growth; used for fence-posts, rails, and railway-ties. The sweet nuts are sold in the markets of the western and southern states.
Distribution. Dry sandy ridges, rich hillsides and the borders of swamps; southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania to central (Lake County) and western Florida and westward through the Gulf States to the valley of the Neches River, Texas, and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma and southwestern Missouri; on the Appalachian Mountains ascending to altitudes of 4500°; most abundant and of its largest size in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas.
3. [Castanea alnifolia] Nutt. Chinquapin.
A low shrub spreading into broad thickets by underground stems, with leaves pale pubescent on the lower surface; and distributed in the neighborhood of the coast from the valley of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, to southern Georgia. Passing into
Castanea alnifolia var. floridana Sarg. Chinquapin.
