Chestnut anyone?

       Castanea dentata

In other words, the ancestors.

Chestnut tree <http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/imageGallery?category=sciname&txtparm=Castanea&familycategory=all&growthhabit=all&duration=all&origin=all&wetland=all&imagetype=all&artist=all&copyright=all&location=all&stateSelect=all&cite=all&viewsort=25&sort=sciname>

 

 CLASSIFICATION:

Kingdom                          Plantae                                         ≈Plants                               
Subkingdom                
Tracheobionta                          ≈Vascular plants 
Superdivision             
Spermatophyta                        ≈Seed plants
Division                   
        Magnoliophyta                         ≈Flowering plants 
Class                                  
Magnoliopsida                          ≈Dicotyledons
Subclass                          
Hamamelididae                       
Order                                 
Fagales                   
Family                              
Fagaceae                                     ≈Beech family
Genus                               
Castanea                                     ≈chestnut
Species                             
Castanea dentata                   ≈American chestnut

 

 

Fagaceae represents the oak, chestnut, beech, birch, hazel and ironwood, or otherwise known as the Beech Family. The closest related families to the beech family are the represented below, including commonly known names such as the Birch Family and Walnut Family of trees.

Fagales Cladistic Tree <http://tolweb.org/Fagales/21027>

Castanea consists of several European and Asian chestnut species as well as three smaller North American chestnuts known as chinkapins, in addition to the American chestnut.  The European chestnut is nearly identical, termed Castanea sativa.  The most common seen species in cultivation of North America is the Chinese chestnut (C. mollissima), chiefly known for its nut crops.  The three chinkapin species include C. ozarkensis, C. pumila and C. alnifolia. A representation of the showing the inherent relatedness of these species to Castanea dentata is shown below using Quercus, the oaks, as an outgroup for comparison.

 

Castanea phylogenetic tree

 

Continue on to the Geographic locations of the chestnut tree...which are few and far between nowadays!

 

Feel free to check out other students' pages as well as our University's website below:

MultipleOrganisms.net

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse