Tree · Fagaceae
American chestnut
Castanea dentata
American chestnut is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 612 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American chestnut at a glance
- Native in
- 612 counties, across 28 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 115 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American chestnut is recorded as native to 28 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 612 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 612 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 15 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- Florida 2 counties
- Georgia 24 counties
- Illinois 8 counties
- Indiana 14 counties
- Kentucky 78 counties
- Louisiana 2 counties
- Maine 11 counties
- Maryland 6 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 8 counties
- Mississippi 14 counties
- Missouri 3 counties
- New Hampshire 8 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 40 counties
- North Carolina 30 counties
- Ohio 50 counties
- Pennsylvania 67 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 6 counties
- Tennessee 55 counties
- Vermont 10 counties
- Virginia 76 counties
- West Virginia 39 counties
- Wisconsin 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 115 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 35 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium
- pH range
- 5.5 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 20 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Foliage color
- Yellow-Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Field Collections Only
- Family
- Fagaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CADE12
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Castanea dentata (PLANTS symbol CADE12).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources