Leaf Color Range

Native Americans had long ago discovered the wonders of these trees. They ate the nuts, ground them into flour, and pressed oil from them. They used the highly rot-resistant wood for shingles and poles in their buildings. They made dye from the bark. They showed how to use the leaves as medicine to treat whooping cough. They boiled the bark to help in tanning leather. And yes, they even planted new trees to be sure they would always have enough American chestnuts.

Then a genuine tragedy occurred. Sometime during the early 1900s, some Chinese chestnuts were planted that contained a disease known as “chestnut blight.” It was not damaging to the Chinese variety, but it was deadly to the American chestnut. Before long, American chestnut trees died by the millions until, by the middle of the 20th century, the America chestnut was almost extinct.

Since then, a program known as “back crossing” has been undertaken in an attempt to bring the American chestnut back to its former glory. And interestingly enough, the cross-breeding program has been developing blight-resistant hybrids using Chinese chestnuts as the best source for this resistant strain. But these programs take time, perhaps as long as 20 years to determine if a specific crossing is successful. It can only be hoped that these back crossing programs will continue and ultimately yield thousands of new and healthy trees.

A small stand of America chestnuts can be seen on the former site of Pittsburgh’s tree nursery where the city’s Forestry Division is currently located in Highland Park.

Height: 80’-100’ with a deep broad, irregular crown.
Leaves: 5”-10” long, 2”-3” wide. Alternate, simple. Long pointed tips with numerous sharp pointed serrations, dark green above, turning yellow in fall.
Habitat: If there was ever a “king of the forest,” the American chestnut had the most right to the claim. When what we now call the eastern United States was completely covered with forest, one out of every four trees was an American chestnut. In the late spring, when millions of trees bloomed, they produced beautiful white flowers which gave a snow-like appearance to the hills covered by the trees. And the fragrance of the flowers was unmistakable. In autumn, each tree produced bushels of sweet nuts which people and wildlife of all kinds enjoyed.