Castanea pumila (L.) Mill.

Castanea pumila, commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American chinquapin or dwarf chestnut, is a species of chestnut native to the southeastern United States. The native range is from Massachusetts and New York to Maryland and extreme southern New Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania south to central Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north to southern Missouri and Kentucky. The plant's habitat is dry sandy and rocky uplands and ridges mixed with oak and hickory to 1000 m elevation. It grows best on well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade. Allegheny chinquapin is relatively resistant to chestnut blight compared to the closely-related American chestnut.

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It is a spreading shrub or small tree, reaching 2–8 m (6 ft 7 in – 26 ft 3 in) in height at maturity. The bark is red- or gray-brown and slightly furrowed into scaly plates. The leaves are simple, alternately arranged, narrowly elliptical or lanceolate, yellow-green above and paler and finely hairy on the underside. Each leaf is 7.5–15 cm (3–5+7⁄8 in) long by 3–5 cm (1+1⁄4–2 in) wide with parallel side veins ending in short pointed teeth. The flowers of this monoecious plant appear in early summer. Male flowers are small and pale yellow to white, borne on erect catkins 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long attached to the base of each leaf. Female flowers are 3 mm (0.12 in) long and are located at the base of some catkins. The fruit is a golden-colored cupule 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) in diameter with many sharp spines, maturing in autumn. Each cupule contains one ovoid shiny dark brown nut that is edible. A natural hybrid of Castanea pumila and Castanea dentata has been named Castanea × neglecta.

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