The photo of Castenea pumila leaves in the Field Guide to Trees of North America are very close to what's in Barry's video. The leaves in the photo that Will showed look wider towards the end rather than tapering as in the guide. Not saying that Will's aren't pumila but I think we're dealing with regional variation as Ed mentioned.
Note this entry from a paper on C. pumila: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1993/v2-500.html "Some taxonomists and geneticists have separated the chinkapins into eight or more poorly defined taxa based on growth form, leaf morphology, bur characteristics, habitat, and blight susceptibility (Jaynes 1975; Graves 1950, 1961; Ashe 1923, 1924). These include: /Castanea pumila/ (L.) Mill., /C. ozarkensis/ Ashe, /C. ashei/ (Sudw.) Ashe, /C. alnifolia/ Nutt., /C. floridana/ (Sarg.) Ashe, /C. paucispina/ Ashe, /C. arkansana/ Ashe, and /C. alabamensis/ Ashe. Other taxonomists (Tucker 1975; Johnson 1987, 1988) have reduced most of these taxa to synonymy within /C. pumila/ var. /pumila/ and indicate that the chinkapin is but a single species, /C. pumila/, comprising two botanical varieties: vars. /ozarkensis/ (Ashe) Tucker and /pumila/." It appears that there is varying growth and leaf form per region and that the "splitters" thought there were many species and then the "lumpers" more recently reduced them all to one species, two varieties. This form variation could be contributing to the differences of opinion. To my eye the leaves look too long and tapered for Castenea dentata. Also the habitat doesn't look right, at least not where I usually see them, looks too dry and exposed. Great ID riddle Barry! -AJ Jess Riddle wrote: > Barry, all; > > The leaves do not look like they are within the range of variation for > chinkapin; the length to width ratio is too high, and the leaves to > acuminate (long pointed) to be chinkapin. The tree does look odd for > American chestnut, but I've never seen chestnut on a site like that. > European sweet chestnut and chinese chestnut seem like possibilities > too. Hard to tell without clearer images or info on the fruits and > hairiness of the leaves. > > Jess > > On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 5:12 AM, Barry Caselli<[email protected]> wrote: > >> ENTS, >> Hope everyone is enjoying your weekend. >> I was hiking yesterday and found this tree. I shot a video, just a minute or >> two in length. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlZfpHpmvjA >> Thanks, >> Barry >> > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
