American chestnut

[ uh-mer-i-kuhn chest-nuht, chest-nuht ]

noun

1. chestnut1

Word History and Origins

Origin of American chestnut¹

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85

Example Sentences

But his legacy came at a cost which Appalachia has paid ever since: The imported chestnut blight killed nearly 4 billion American chestnut trees across 200 million acres of US forest.

From Salon

“We called them gray ghosts,” the now 77-year-old retired forester says of the American chestnut tree scattered throughout his former North Carolina home and still towering over the forest floors.

From National Geographic

Within 50 years, the towering American chestnut trees were gone.

From Scientific American

By springtime, the group had planted upward of 20,000 seedlings, a mix of 20 different native tree species including the American chestnut, the Virginia pine and a variety of oaks.

From New York Times

The threatened list includes soaring coast redwoods, capacious American chestnuts, elegant black ash and gnarled whitebark pine.

From Washington Post