“Large Survivor” Found in Fannin County

The inventory of “mother trees” in Georgia has likely increased with the discovery of a flowering American chestnut tree by Dave Keehn in July of 2005.

The tree pictured below stands approximately 35’ tall and yielded over 2 dozen burrs this year.  Without another flowering tree nearby, the nuts produced were all infertile.  In addition to the size of the tree,  the swollen cankers on the tree indicate that the tree probably caries some level of resistance to chestnut blight.  This could also be due to a hypo-virulent (less deadly) strain of chestnut blight  present on the tree.

Bob Keehn with newly discovered tree

With the tree being relatively healthy and in close proximity to a Forest Service road, it is an excellent prospect for pollination next spring.

The breeding program of TACF seeks to capture genetic diversity by creating strains of hybrids derived from specimens  found in the wild within the natural range of American chestnut.  Each state chapter contributes to this effort by first locating local specimens that are flowering that can be pollinated with the backcross pollen developed by TACF. Trees that are not pure American chestnut or that have been transplanted from elsewhere are not candidates. 

TACF Germplasm Agreement

The Reasons for this Agreement: TACF is in the process of breeding hybrid chestnut trees for eventual release into the public domain closely resembling pure American chestnut trees but without susceptibility to the disease known as chestnut blight and with resistance to insect pests and other major pathogens of chestnuts.

The method of plant breeding being used by TACF is commonly referred to as the “backcross method” wherein lines of American chestnut stock are outcrossed once to other species of chestnut carrying genetic resistance to chestnut blight, and successive generations of such outcrosses are then repeatedly backcrossed to American chestnut to recover the desirable characteristics of the American chestnut tree while incorporating blight resistance. It is in the interests of TACF and of the Recipient to be able to test and observe the characteristics of hybrids which are in the earlier stages of such backcrossing (i.e., the original outcross and first through third backcrosses [and intercrosses between individual trees of the same generation of backcrossing] since selected offspring of third backcross trees are considered to be genetically primarily an American chestnut type of tree).

But the Recipient and TACF do not want the Recipient or others to use genetic material from such early stages for propagation purposes because: (1) the Recipient and TACF wish to preserve TACF’s rights to such genetic material;  and (2) the Recipient and TACF most emphatically do not want any person to take such material and market it, or to market any progeny from it; the material may not have the characteristics desired or have characteristics that are not consistent with the goal of TACF, namely “the Restoration of the American Chestnut”, and not a Chinese or other type of tree; and (3) the Recipient and TACF do not want to be identified with the distribution, increase or marketing of material that has the potential of diluting the resident American  chestnut population in the Appalachian mountains