American chestnut tree?

[Stevenjohn21]

A friend of mine recently cut this tree down here in Georgia and suspects it's an American chestnut.
Can anyone confirm based off the pictures?  

[Stevenjohn21]

I picked the tree up today and although I didn't get any leaves to help ID it, I did manage to find the spikey seeds that were scattered all around. 
Hopefully this will help someone to know what tree it is. 

[Don P]

There we go, that would be a chestnut burr.
With a trunk that long and straight, it probably is an American.

Oh, gently put that burr down. Stomp/smear it around with your foot till it releases the nut from that outer husk. Then you can pick the nut up safely. Plant them all, that tree has something going on.

Hmm, hold on, lets google chinkapin  :D
Castanea pumila (Allegheny Chinquapin, American Chinquapin, Chinquapin, Common Chinquapin, Dwarf Chestnut) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu)
Nah, I'm thinking not on that.

[Ron Scott]

American chestnut. Any similar trees in the area this one came from?

[SwampDonkey]

When you saw it the wood will look similar to ash, but latewood pores are in a flame pattern and can't see the rays and no lustre to planed surfaces. Ash is like glass with lustre when planed, very narrow band of earlywood pores in 2-3 stacked rows. Chestnut has a broader band of pores and I think the sapwood is narrower. Ash has a lot of white sapwood.

[moodnacreek]

They saw here you are not supposed to cut them down here. We have cut a few when they died, never more than 11" d.b.h. and wormy always. That one looks beautiful. Is it wormy?

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't be surprised if it were Colossal Chestnut (Castanea sativa × Castanea crenata) and not wild.

[Don P]

I'm rusty, that would be a european sweet chestnut and a ?

[SwampDonkey]

A cross of French and Japanese chestnuts, crossed by Felix Gillet at his nursery. Apparently it has to be planted with a pollenizer variety since it has no pollen. They are also blight susceptible like American chestnut. They have done trials as far north as Michigan, they are chiefly grown in California.

[Prizl tha Chizl]

Burnt ridge nursery in Olympia, WA sells many euro/Asian hybrid chestnuts for nut production, some with more of a timber form, many with blight resistance. Layeroka, Skioka, Marsol, precoce Migoule, silver leaf are among them.

[Rhodemont]

That is definitely a chestnut burr.  But I find it hard to believe it is truly a pure American chestnut.  If it is you have something truly special outside of the small growth of trees surviving out in the upper mid west.  There is an entire society dedicated to the American Chestnut and bringing it back.  I highly recommend you contact them.

[Stevenjohn21]

I finally got around to milling this. The tree was cut into 2x9' logs. The butt end measures 35" wide and takers to 22"
The picture below is the smaller of the 2 logs. Hopefully this will help you ID this tree better.

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[SwampDonkey]

Not American chestnut. Here are some images of lumber and grain. It has no dark streaks in it. It can't be stain because the sapwood looks chalk white. And A. chestnut is not heavy like oak or hickory.

American Chestnut | The Wood Database (Hardwood)

@customsawyer See any lumber like this in your operations?

[customsawyer]

Yes Sir that right there is a Danny tree. Crazy how much I miss that guy.
Since the OP is from the Atlanta area it could be interesting what it ends up being. It has good sized growth rings that look like it has some mineral stain in it, judging from the first pic of the butt end of the log. Some of the pictures of the lumber reminds me of our water oaks around here with mineral stain, but I've never seen one produce those little balls. It also looks like the OP might be wetting the lumber before the pictures, making the dark stains a lot darker than we think. Maybe @caveman can give us a hand or if someone can get a hold of @Dodgy Loner as he is every bit as good at this ID stuff if not a little better than Danny was.

[caveman]

It's funny that you mention mineral stained water oak.  I was thinking, after looking at the picture, that it resembled mineral stained water or laurel oak, but it is not quite right for one of the lesser quality red oaks. I don't have any good guesses as to what it is.

 

[customsawyer]

Sure wish that end grain in the last picture was cleaned up some.

[SwampDonkey]

There is a term called olive ash, it's not a species, just dark grain that does not follow ring patterns. Both olive and ash are in the Oleaceae family. Still a puzzle where the bur came from, any chance there are Alleghany chinkapins around there?

Olive Ash | The Wood Database (Hardwood)

[Stevenjohn21]

This tree was the only tree on the front of the property with 100s of these burrs all around the base.

[Dodgy Loner]

That's definitely a red oak. Probably laurel or water oak from the looks of the bark. The wide medullary rays are clearly visible around the knot in the picture of the lumber. Chestnut would not have visible rays. The mineral staining is also typical of water/laurel oak. 

[SwampDonkey]

It's no A. chestnut for sure.  A mystery where the burs came from.

[Stevenjohn21]

I just opened up one of the burrs to see what the chestnut looked like......
From everything I'm reading and seeing, I'm pretty convinced it's not a red oak lol

[customsawyer]

I don't know where or what those burrs came from. I do know that I completely trust Dodgy Loner as much as WDH when it comes to tree ID. I started to pick on Dodgy one time and ole Danny took me to the side and explained in his subtle, firm but polite way that even he wouldn't disagree with Dodgy. It also makes me look smarter than I am that he agrees with my first guess. :D

[SwampDonkey]

With respect, I would trust Dodgy with those southern trees and probably most other native woods, but until I see an oak with burs with 3 nutlets inside being picked up under a lone tree I'd have to agree with the guy posting the inquiry. I'd still like to see any large rays on that end grain in the one board with the closeup. And further I've yet to see A. chestnut lumber with that stain or dark grain to it, especially since the sap ain't stained. Which suggests it's not stain from lying around on the ground.  :D
Nothing is written in stone tablets over this, could very well be mineral stained chestnut. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

I forwarded a link to the wood database for another set of eyes. They've seen lots of lumber over there, so we'll see if they have a diagnoses.

[KEC]

If there is a forestry college in the area, take some photos and a wood sample to them. (?)