Perhaps this species may do better as a forest tree in the United States than in China. (50 ft.) tall and are still rapidly increasing in height. In two plantings in the eastern United States, 22-year-old Chinese chestnuts growing on good sites are 15 m. It is not so upright growing as the American chestnut and shows quite a tendency to spread out when not crowded. This species is reported by Chinese authorities to reach a height of 15 to 18 m. The Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima, is a medium-size tree much used for orchard and home planting. There are four species of the genus Castanea in Asia.

On some trees, even of susceptible species, the blight fungus may grow extensively in the outer bark for four or five years before it extends into the cambium region and then kills the tree. Sometimes the cankered area is swollen, and sometimes it is sunken (page 6) but slicing away the bark will always disclose the fungus fans if the blight is the primary cause of the canker. On examination of such a limb, a girdling blight canker will be found. Usually the first symptom of the disease to be noted outwardly is the dying of a limb to which are attached yellow-brown leaves that contrast with the green of the rest of the tree. These spores are spread by birds, animals, and insects the other type of fruiting body produces wind-borne spores. Under moist conditions sticky tendrils of spores ooze from one kind of fruiting body. On the outer bark surface the fungus produces reddish-brown fruiting bodies about the size of pinheads and of two types. However, if the chestnut tissue has been injured or partially killed by freezing or some other factor, the blight fungus will grow through it without forming fans. These fans indicate the presence of the blight. Within the bark and cambium region the fungus growth appears as characteristic buff-colored fans (page 5). This fungus grows in the bark, cambium, and outer wood of affected trees. In contrast, Asiatic species of chestnut are resistant to both these diseases.Д¬hestnut blight is caused by a fungus named Endothia parasitica.

In part of Europe the ink disease has seriously damaged that species and now the blight, already found in Italy and Spain, is an immediate menace to chestnut throughout that continent. Both these diseases are serious on European chestnut also. The forest stands of the American chestnut, however, have been destroyed by two serious fungus diseases, blight and phytophthora root rot (ink disease). 1 - Chestnut blight in Asia and north AmericaД¬hestnut blight in Asia and north AmericaДead chestnuts on the Blue Ridge Plateau Virginia.ДЄMONG the trees of the world, chestnuts, Castanea spp., are outstanding because they produce large crops of tasty nuts and numerous valuable products such as durable posts, lumber, and tannin-extract wood.