Take a Walk at Ivy Creek
Peninsula Trail
A Walk Through a Riparian Habitat
Bench 5. American Chestnut
As you complete the loop, look to your right for sign of a struggling American chestnut (Castanea dentata)
One hundred years ago, magnificent American chestnut trees dominated the forested hills and mountains over much of the eastern U.S. That was until the arrival of the lethal chestnut blight, a fungal disease brought into the country in the late 1800s on chestnut trees from Asia. The blight spread like wildfire killing almost every American chestnut tree by mid-century. However, because the blight destroys the bark tissue leaving the roots unharmed, some chestnuts like this one at Ivy Creek repeatedly resprout just to succumb once again to the blight in a cycle that has lasted nearly 70 years.
The American chestnut can be recognized by its long-pointed, sharply toothed leaves. The chestnut's mature form was similar to that of its close cousin, the oak. However, its dimensions were so huge, its growth rate so rapid, and its prevalence so vast that it was commonly known as the “Redwood of the East.”
This tree was truly the emperor of the Eastern forest.
Find out about efforts to bring back the American chestnut
American chestnut leaves
