Chestnut

The genus Castanea (Chestnut) has 7 to 12 species native to Asia, Europe and North America. In the 20th Century, the North American species was decimated by the fungus Endothia parasitica. All species of Castanea look alike microscopically. American chestnut’s original (pre-blight) distribution was from Maine west to Michigan and into the southeast U.S. Most of the trees grew in lower New England and the Appalachians. American chestnut grew to a height of 120 ft, with diameters of over 6 feet. The thin sapwood of American chestnut is off-white, and the heartwood is light brown, darkening with age. The wood of American chestnut is coarse, medium in strength, light weight, with medium hardness and shrinkage. Chestnut works well with most tools for most applications and is rated as very resistant to decay. It was used for barrel staves, boxes, caskets, core stock for plywood, crates, fuel wood, furniture, lumber, mine timbers, poles, pulpwood, railroad ties, shingles, and tannin extract.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/TechSheets/HardwoodNA/pdf_files/castaneamet.pdf.

Characteristics found in the Chestnut (Castanea spp.):

• Ring Porous
• Dendritic latewood
• Simple perforations
• I/V pits linear
• Rays Uniseriate
• Crystals in axial parenchyma
• Latewood Vessels thin-walled and angular, like those in the White Oak Group

WOOD SLIDES
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CHARCOAL SLIDES