We found something amazing in the woods this spring: a wild, reproducing American chestnut!!! American chestnut, Castanea dentata, is functionally extinct in the wild due to an introduced fungus that wiped out the species in the early 20th century. It persists as stump sprouts that inevitably get re-infected and die after just a few years, making this find pretty extraordinary! The loss of American chestnut was devastating; the tree was once a dominant species in Appalachian forests and incredibly valuable for humans and wildlife alike.

Ryan was so excited to find American chestnut husks that he forgot to discuss look-alikes, which is always an important part of tree identification! Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima, has a wider leaf, fuzzy leaf undersides, and U-shaped leaf bases, while American chestnut has narrow leaves, smooth leaf undersides, and more V-shaped leaf bases. Allegheny chinquapin, Castanea pumilia, is a shrub/small tree native to the southeastern US and has noticeably smaller leaves and burs than American chestnut does. C. pumilia is susceptible to the blight but has not been wiped out to the same extent as C. dentata was. Chinese chestnut, on the other hand, is resilient to chestnut blight. Indeed, infected Chinese chestnut saplings that were introduced to America are suspected to be the source of the devastating fungus to our hemisphere.

Want more goods from the woods? Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.forestsforthebay.org/news... !

Who are we, anyway? Forests for the Bay is an educational program of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Learn more at https://www.allianceforthebay.org/

Recorded and edited by the not-so fast-growing Allyson Wells.