Chinquapin seeds are almost like glorified beech seeds...pretty darned
small.

If memory serves, look with a hand lens for the presence/absence of small,
stellate hairs on the underside of the leaf. If there the tree is likely Jap
chestnut. Also, chinquapin has much more narrow, dentate, almost yellowish
leaves in comparison to the Jap. chestnut.

--
Mike LaMana, MS
Heartwood Consulting Services, LLC
Toms River, NJ
www.HeartwoodConsulting.net



"Retiredff" wrote in message
link.net...
After getting confirmation from the forester who works with our extension
service that a tree in the woods in front of my house is not an American
Chestnut, we are down to two choices. Those are 1) Allegheny Chinkapin
(castanea pumila) or 2) Japanese Chestnut (Castanea crenata???). Right
now,
we are leaning towards the Allegheny Chinkapin, based on description.

Their reference materials showed no pictures of the female flowers from
the
Japanese Chestnut, nor have I had any luck finding them on the web.

So, my question is this. Does anyone have any picture that shows the
female
flower of the Japanese Chestnut? Heck, even a detailed description might
help.

Thanks,
Larry