From my "tree" book I find this info... The Chestnut tree
was near
destroyed by the chestnut blight -brought to North America (New York City)
from Asia in 1904. It spread rapidly until the late 1930's ... affecting
the entire natural range.
The Indians of central New York supposedly called it "O-heh-yah-tah"
or prickly bur. The scientific name is Castanea dentata and refers to the
conspicuous incurved teeth on the margins of the leaves.
The leaves alternate and grow closely on the limbs and are quite oval
shaped or oblong with distinct spines sticking out around the edges. Before
the leaves have fallen in October, the prickly burs (look like shaggy sweet
gum balls) have turned brown and the sweet-meated chestnuts have burst from
the pod. The gray-brown bark is deeply groved (fissured) to form broad
smooth "plates" of bark A graph showing the natural range of the tree shows
that only the southeastern part of the state of Indiana (divide the state
in half diagonally) is "native territory" for the chestnut.
It's rather doubtful that we have any left in our woods... but I
thought I would put out the word... in the event that someone happened to
know of one hidden away in a private woods. We can always hope for a
treasure like this!!
Marge Priser
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~kosco