Forestry
Champion Trees
Chinese Chestnut -
(Castanea mollissima Blume)
The Chinese Chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume)
is a member of the Beech family Fagaceae that originated in China and
Korea. Capable of reaching a height of 60 feet, displaying deciduous,
alternately arranged, coarsely dentate leaves that are pubescent beneath, these
nut bearing trees are grown as ornamentals and for their edible nuts. The leaves
can reach a length of six inches and the nuts are from two to three in number
enclosed in a prickly, dehiscent involucre or bur that remind me of a Sea
Urchin. The Genus name Castanea is from the Greek word for
chestnut, and the species name mollissima is the old Latin meaning
"most graceful".
The USDA and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station launched
vigorous programs of breeding for resistance to blight soon after it was
discovered in the U.S. around 1904. But no trees were produced which combined
high levels of blight resistance with the desirable traits of the American
Chestnut. The U.S. program was discontinued in 1960. The Connecticut program
continues today and is a cooperator with the American Chestnut Foundation. The
Chinese Chestnut is resistant to the Chestnut Blight, and efforts are being
directed at total resistance to the blight in the American Chestnut by a
breeding program that will ultimately produce an American Chestnut that is
fifteen-sixteenths American and one-sixteenth Chinese, retaining the
characteristics of the American giants with the disease resistance of the
Chinese. These recent developments in genetics and plant pathology promise new
hope that this magnificent tree will again become part of our natural heritage.
Cotton Plant, Arkansas; You have done yourself proud!
Please welcome the new Arkansas State Champion Chinese Chestnut Tree to
your city. Located at the home of Joana Smith at 122 North Vine Street in
Cotton Plant, this verdant giant is the largest Chinese Chestnut tree in
Arkansas with a Bigness Index (B.I.) of 178. Discovered and nominated by
retired Monroe County Cooperative Extension Service Agent Reggie Talley, it stands
50 feet tall with a crown spread of 68 feet, and is 9 feet, 3 inches in
circumference (111 inches) measured at four and one-half feet from the
ground.
These Chestnut trees are not native to North America and
have grown to be favorites since the devastating blight decimated the
American Chestnut tree from forests of the eastern United States.
Reinforced by the Currier and Ives print, "The Village Blacksmith", Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) immortalized the American Chestnut in the
first line of his famous poem, The Village Blacksmith - "Under a spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands";...
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