Abstract
An exotic fungus, the chestnut blight (
Cryphonectria parasitica Murr. Barr), decimated the American chestnut tree (
Castanea dentata Marsh. Borkh.) throughout eastern North America in the first half of the 20th century. The United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (FS), The University of Tennessee, and The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) are collaborating on chestnut restoration research on National Forest System lands. In autumn 2007 and 2008, TACF used a back-cross breeding technique (Hebard 2001) to produce chestnuts, referred to as the BC3F3 generation, that are predicted to be American chestnut in character with blight resistance from Chinese chestnut (
Castanea mollissima Blume).
Parent Publication
Citation
Clark, Stacy; Schlarbaum, Scott; Hebard, Fred; Saxton, Arnold; Casey, David; Crane, Barbara; MacFarlane, Russ; Rodrigue, Jason; Stelick, Jim. 2012. Lessons from the field: the first tests of restoration American chestnut (Castanea dentata) seedlings planted in the southern region. In: Butnor, John R., ed. 2012. Proceedings of the 16th biennial southern silvicultural research conference. e-Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-156. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 69-70.