The loss of American chestnut trees, Castanea denatata, ranks as one of the most devastating botanical disasters in U.S. history. Before the introduction of chestnut blight in 1904, there were over 4 ...

“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” is playing on the radio now in the Northern Hemisphere which begs the question, “What happened to the American chestnut?” Would you be surprised to hear there’s a ...

Chestnuts, once a staple in the American kitchen, especially among indigenous people, have all but disappeared. Yet, there are signs that chestnuts are reemerging as local and regional farmers are ...

Billions of American chestnut trees once covered the eastern United States. They soared in height, producing so many nuts that sellers moved them by train car. Every Christmas, they’ ...

In the early 20th century, a blight fungus wiped out most of the 4 billion American chestnut trees on the eastern seaboard. The loss was ecologically devastating. Short Wave host Emily Kwong dives ...

A startup called American Castanea has joined the quest to revive the American chestnut tree, the first step in its plan to give forests a genetic upgrade. Under a slice-of-heaven sky, 150 acres of ...

American chestnut trees — which produce nuts inside spikey pods — still grow in the wild, but are considered “functionally extinct” because they do not typically live to maturity due to a fungus ...

For more than a century, the American chestnut, once a dominant tree across eastern North American forests, has been ...

An experimental American chestnut tree created by researchers at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry is one step closer to public release. The U.S. Department ...