463. Chinese chestnut (465)

The Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) is a small- to medium-sized tree with broad crown. The oval-shaped leaves are simple, alternate, and with straight veins and slightly toothed. The top of the leaf is somewhat leathery and underneath paler green and hairy. The flowers appear as catkins with female flowers at the base and male flowers elsewhere. The fruit is a brown nut (2.5 in) housed in a spiny coat. They are edible and an important food source for forest animals. The tree is resistant to the chestnut blight that has wiped out almost all the American chestnuts. Native to China, the Chinese chestnut is now the most common chestnut in North America. Compared to American chestnut, Chinese chestnut has smaller, wider, and leathery leaves and smaller fruit. Most of the Castanea species arose from southern Europe, SW and E Asia and Eastern North America. In 1904 a blight, Cryphonectria parasitica, (formerly called Endothia parasitica) was introduced along the East Coast of North America and spread to destroy American chestnut trees, C. dentata, ( as the Dutch Elm disease did to the American elms). The chestnut fungus attacks larger trees so American chestnuts grow to the size of a shrub before the stems are killed. But since the roots survive, the stems regrow until they are hit again. C. mollissima is not immune to chestnut blight but is resistant. In Europe the common chestnut is the sweet, Spanish or European Chestnut, C sativa. The Romans valued this tree as a source of food and introduced it to many parts of their Empire including Britain. It is also sensitive to the chestnut blight. Like all Fagales many leaves are retained during the winter. The Latin name for acorn is ‘glans’ which is morphologicall similar to the tip of the mammalian penis, also called a ‘glans’. The genus name is derived from the town of Castania in Thessaly where the trees reportedly grew in abundance. Mollissima come from the Latin root for “soft”, in reference to the pubescent twigs and leaf undersides.

Link describing difference between an American and Chinese chestnut. http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/comparison/

CASTANEA mollissima leaf and fruit

Specimen Provenance:

Common name: Chinese Chestnut

Scientific Name (family and order): Castanea mollissima Blume. (Fabaceae, Fagales)

Species Origin: Korea and China from Beijing to Yunnan.

New Jersey Status: USDA Introduced

Habit: Medium sized, low-branched typically 40’ tall. Rounded in shape as young tree but broader at maturity with low branches.

Habitat: Zone 4 -8

Trunk/Stem: Bark gray brown, strongly ridged and furrowed.

Leaves: Deciduous, Simple, Alternate. Elliptic oblong to oblong-lanceolate; apex acuminate; base cuneate; leaf margin coarsely toothed; adaxial surface lustrous, dark green; abaxial surface lighter green and pubescent. Each leaf margin tooth is linked to a vein running to the midrib. Leaves turn various shade of yellow in fall.

Flowers: Monoecious; pale yellow or creamy of heavy unpleasant odor. Staminate in erect cylindrical catkins; pistillate (female) flowers found on the bottom part of the catkin, staminate (male) flowers found on the upper part of the catkin. Bloom time June.

Fruits and seeds: 2 – 3 nuts (seeds) enclosed in a prickly involucre (the fruit) which splits at maturity into 2 – 4 valves. Nuts edible.

Why Dead Trees Matter

Contribution by Lilly Krauss:

When you venture in the wooded area of Marquand park, you may notice fallen trees and large branches on the ground. In this area of the park called natural woods, trees grow, mature, reproduce, die, and decompose without human intervention. Because dead trees are left undisturbed, natural woods have a healthier and more diverse ecosystem than wooded areas where fallen trees are routinely cleared.

When a fallen tree begins to rot on the ground, fungi and other microorganisms that live on dead wood break down the tree’s cell wall, thereby releasing carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other essential nutrients to the soil. This decomposition produces rich organic matter for other trees to use.

Even standing dead trees, called snags, play an important role in the forest by supplying food and microhabitats. You may find snags stripped of their bark because in particular, deer and other small animals like to eat the bark. Woodpeckers bore deep holes in snags to get at insects or larvae within. These holes become nesting sites for woodland birds. Rotting tree bases provide homes for small mammals. Finally, birds of prey use standing dead trees as lookouts.

To read more about the importance of natural woods:

Dead Wood by Dan Puplett.
Science News for Students, recycling the dead, by Kathiann Kowalski
The Biological Carbon Cycle, by Professor Patricia Shapley, University of Illinois, 2010
Science findings, PNW Pacific Northwest Research Station, issue twenty/ November 1999
Whether fallen or standing, trees have many uses, Karen Maserjian Shan, February 28, 2015

Japanese Knotweed

The recent discovery of Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) around the parking lot of Marquand Park demands some attention. The perennial has a bamboo-like reddish stem, heart-shaped bright green leaves, and when blooming pretty little white-flower tassels. Introduced in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, Japanese knotweed became popular as a garden plant because of its soft and pleasing effect. In the United States, Frederic Law Olmsted was responsible for planting it in Central Park.

Over time, the plant has become the most pernicious weed in Great Britain posing a threat to building structures and road surfaces. In the United States, Japanese knotweed is considered an invasive in 38 states and occurs on the New Jersey Invasive Plant Species List. The weed likes to grow along roads and in areas disturbed by human activity. It spreads like wildfire. Eradicating a cluster of plants is not easy. A home improvement website called the Spruce describes techniques such as using tarp to smother the weed; cutting and digging up the plant and its root system; and spraying and injecting knotweed with herbicides. In the United Kingdom, scientists are experimenting with the release of a plant eating insect called Aphalara itadori that feeds on the Japanese knotweed and kills the plant.

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