Chestnut American or Chinese?

[Dana]

Here is a photo of the front and back of the leaf. Keep in mind that they are young spring leaves.  2nd photo is the underside of the leaf.

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like American. Are the teeth bristle tipped (like oak) and the leaves about 2" wide?

[Dana]

Are the teeth bristle tipped (like oak) and the leaves about 2" wide?

I don't know what you mean by bristle tipped. The leaves are still immature and are almost 2" wide.

When I went to grafting class a few weeks ago, we grafted chinese chestnuts. They were just starting to leaf out so I can't compare them to anything. The professor did say that the underside of one specie will be hairy and the other isn't. The problem is I don't remember which was which.

[RynSmith]

My tree book describes American chestnut leaves as "hairy when young but becoming smooth with age."  Not sure if that helps or not... 

[WDH]

I have not looked it up but I think that the american chestnut is glabrous (smooth).

Here is an excellent site that compares the various species:

http://www.westmorelandconservancy.org/amch/ChestnutComparison.html   

[Dana]

I am thinking that it is American based on the link WDH provided. Is there any follow up info I can provide to confirm this?

[WDH]

When the leaves are mature, check to see if they are smooth underneath.

[SwampDonkey]

Probably like beech, they come out with fuzz on them, then they loose it. Then sometimes I suppose early leaves drop and the shoot ends elongation and the later leaves are retained without hair.

Largetooth aspen exhibits this trait. right now they are velvety and even slower to emerge than our sugar maple, still fairly small and it's now mid June.

[Dana]

It's been such a cold rainy spring here that we are at least two weeks behind on leaf development.

[Ron Wenrich]

Here's a description of various chestnuts:

http://www.mindspring.com/~psisco/www/overview.html

Click on the various chestnuts, and you'll come with pictures to look at.  Look at the ones for buds.  That should give you a pretty distinct idea of what it is. 

 

[SwampDonkey]

It's been such a cold rainy spring here that we are at least two weeks behind on leaf development.

It has been a cool spring, but it was dry here. We have had about 2 inches though in the last two weeks. Before that we went a long time with the odd sprinkle. Leaves were out earlier this year if anything. I can remember maple leaves used to take until June to come out full and apple blossoms were not out until first week of June. Everything is 2 weeks ahead this year. I like the cool weather however, cuts down on flies and you aren't too hot cutting brush. When the hot sun hits that softwood slash it's 20 degrees hotter (at least) on a 90 degree day.

[letemgrow]

My guess would be an american chestnut also.  The basic principle is the Chinese will be hairy underneath while the American will be smooth.  What form does the tree have???  Here is another website that states some of the differences between the American and Chinese.  I know the young amiercan chestnuts that I have growing, have really big leaves in areas where they are growing like gangbusters. 

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/comparison/

[letemgrow]

Here is what a hybrid american/chinese leaves looks like I have growing on the farm.  It is noticeably different from the pure american chestnuts.