The Effects Of European Colonization On The Plant & Animal Life In The West (Part One) The American Chestnut (Castanea Dentata) is extinct and once was known as the sequoia of the east. It was a rapidly growing deciduous hardwood tree, historically reaching up to 30 metres (98 ft) in height, and 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter. It ranged from Maine and southern Ontario to Mississippi, and from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachian Mountains and the Ohio Valley. A squirrel could jump from branch to branch from Maine to Florida and never touch the ground! The American Chestnut was once one of the most common trees in the northeastern US. In Pennsylvania alone, it is estimated to have comprised 25-30% of all hardwoods. The trees huge population was due to a combination of rapid growth and a large annual seed crop in comparison to oaks which do not reliably produce sizable numbers of acorns every year. Once an important hardwood timber tree, the American chestnut is highly susceptible to chestnut blight, caused by an Asian bark fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica, formerly Endothia parasitica) introduced into North America on imported Asiatic chestnut trees. The disease was first noticed on American chestnut trees in what was then the New York Zoological Park, now known as the Bronx Zoo, in 1904, by chief forester Hermann Merkel. While Chinese chestnut evolved with the blight and developed a strong resistance, the American chestnut had little resistance. The airborne bark fungus spread 50 mi (80 km) a year and in a few decades girdled and killed up to three billion American chestnut trees. Salvage logging during the early years of the blight may have unwittingly destroyed trees which had high levels of resistance to this disease and thus aggravated the calamity. FYI: THEY DONT GO HERE!!
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 00:58:46 +0000
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