American Chestnut Tree

Considering that last post was kindof serious and considering I’m no longer in such a serious mood, I thought I’d post something funny or interesting. First of all, the fact that I’m in a good mood is entirely weird. I spent the first half of the day locked in a room with a bunch of dead bodies and their spinal cords. Surprisingly, that put me in a good mood. Make of that what you will.

I should tell you about the American Chestnut Tree. DO YOU know about the American Chestnut Tree?

Prior to the 1900’s, there existed a tree that dominated the eastern United States. It accounted for one in four trees in the Appalachians. The American Chestnut Tree was a major cash crop as it could be used for fence posts, furniture, sticks to hit your brother with, flooring, and bar tops! It was also a beautiful wood for those of us who like woodworking. And they were huge. They could be over 100 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. They were the Giant Redwoods of the East.

Linked from the Forest History Society Image Database

The chestnuts were apparently amazing! Ever heard of the song “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire?” Well it’s about the American Chestnut. I guess they were sweet and you could either roast them in the oven or just pluck ‘em off the ground.

But then in 1904, in New York City*, they introduced** the chestnut blight. Cryphonectria parasitica was just a common fungus and native to the Chinese Chestnut, which is the tree most people have nowadays.*** However, the American Chestnut was overwhelmed by the non-native infection and the entire population of 4 billion trees was completely decimated in a few decades. Deforestation and replantation over the years has eliminated almost any trace that the trees even existed. It makes national headlines when a single tree is discovered nowadays.

There are several efforts to cross breed the American Chestnut Tree with the Chinese Chestnut to get the resistance mechanisms and maintain all the other characteristics of the American Chestnut. It takes a long time—at least five years per generation—and there aren’t very many people who know enough to miss the old giants. The effort is small, but it’s there, and in several years they’ll have trees to start repopulating.

There ya go. Now you know about the American Chestnut Tree. At least I didn’t tell you about my fun morning alone in the Anatomy Lab… egh.

Mike!

* damn city dwellers
** “ooh I swear it wasn’t me… it must have been Jersey”
*** it’s a weakling… tiny, poor wood, and the nuts don’t taste good… yuck