=Range=.—Maine and Michigan southward to Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Abundant in most parts of the State; of best quality along the lower western slopes of the Alleghanies.
=Habitat=.—Thrives in most places in West Virginia, but is less frequently seen on limestone soils and in swampy places.
=Notes=.—The Chestnut tree is prized for its lumber, its nuts, its tannin, and for its numerous uses, especially on the farm. It is a very rapid grower, and sprouts freely from the base of the stump when cut down. A disease known as chestnut blight has entered the State and threatens to exterminate this tree.
=Form=.—Height 20-30 feet, diameter 1-2 feet, in West Virginia usually much smaller; trunk short, supporting a rounded crown.
=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 2-6 inches long, lanceolate or oblong, narrowed at both ends, coarsely serrate, thick, smooth and yellow-green on the upper surface, paler and covered with a whitish down beneath.
=Flowers=.—May-June; monoecious; staminate flowers in clusters along the catkin; the pistillate borne at the base of the upper catkins in rounded, prickly involucres.
=Fruit=.—Matures in early autumn; bur covered with stiff spines and enclosing usually only one ovoid brown nut which is very sweet and edible.
=Bark=.—On trunk lightly furrowed and with flat ridges broken into light brown, loose plates.
=Wood=.—Light, hard, strong, coarse-grained, brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood.
=Range=.—Pennsylvania and New Jersey south to Florida and Texas.
=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Not widely distributed but common in some sections. Observed in the following counties: Mercer, Wyoming, Summers, Fayette, Logan, and Boone. Reported also from Wayne, Monroe, Mingo, Braxton, Gilmer, Pendleton, Greenbrier, Grant and Nicholas counties.
=Habitat=.—Dry slopes and flats and stream borders.
=Notes=.—This species is usually a shrub in West Virginia, often bearing fruit when only a few feet high. Several trees observed south of the Kanawha River were well-formed, 20-25 feet tall, and with straight trunks 6-8 inches in diameter. The Chinquapin is chiefly prized on account of its nuts. It is susceptible to the attack of chestnut blight and may eventually be killed out by this disease.