American Chestnut – Castanea dentata
As most of you already know, the American Chestnut, one of our magnificent and important native trees, was literally wiped out after a blight was imported from Asia very early in the 20th century.
Scientists have been trying for years to cross-breed remaining native trees with Asian species in order to come up with a hybrid that will look almost exactly like the old American chestnut … but have excellent resistance to the blight.
In the winter issue of American Forests magazine, there's an article on recent chestnut research … and it says there's now the best hope in more than a century to restore these great American trees.
You can read the full article here.
(image: USDA PLANTS Database)
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