# Ozark Chinquapin (Castanea ozarkensis)

> The Ozarks' own chestnut, once a tree of 60 feet with sweet nuts for people and wildlife, now rare because chestnut blight kills its stems to the ground.

Also called Ozark chinkapin, Ozark chestnut, Castanea pumila var. ozarkensis. Category: Chestnuts & Chinquapins. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/ozark-chinquapin/

![Ozark chinquapin (Castanea ozarkensis) long toothed leaves and pale flower catkins in June](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/ozark-chinquapin-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACastanea_ozarkensis.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 15 to 30 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 8
- Grows wild in: Dry uplands and rocky ground
- Native range: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Oklahoma
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Rare, Edible, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Bears young
- Sold as: Saplings, Nuts

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Ozark chinquapin is a chestnut of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, now treated as a species of its own rather than a form of the Allegheny chinquapin. Its rot-resistant wood once went into barns, furniture, railroad ties and fence posts. Chestnut blight reached the Ozarks in the 1960s and virtually wiped it out, and Missouri now ranks it imperiled. The Ozark Chinquapin Foundation and the University of Missouri are working to breed blight resistance back into it. Grow it on a dry, sunny slope as a living piece of Ozark history.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Expect a small tree of 15 to 30 feet. Chestnut blight kills the stems above ground but dies at the soil line, so the roots send up new sprouts. Those grow to 15 or 20 feet before the fungus kills them again within 4 to 6 years. Before the blight, trees stood as much as 60 feet tall. Our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, a foot and a half a year, since no source rates its speed. Seedlings bear their first nuts at 3 to 5 years in good conditions.

It flowers in late May and June, after the danger of frost. Each spiny bur, up to 1¼ inches across, holds one small, sweet nut. The nuts ripen from September into November across the chinquapins' range. Squirrels, chipmunks, deer, turkeys and bobwhite eat them.

It grows wild on rocky upper slopes and ridges in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, often beside chinquapin oak. Its northern Alabama stands appear lost to the blight.

## How to grow Ozark Chinquapin

Ozark chinquapin wants full sun and a well-drained, acid soil, dry to average, on a slope or a ridge if you have one. It will not take heavy clay or ground that stays wet. Set trees 15 feet apart, and keep each one 15 feet from a wall and 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. The nuts die if they dry out, so keep them cool and damp until you sow. Sow them in fall an inch deep under hardware cloth. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for two to three months first.

Water weekly through the first two summers in dry spells. Rabbits and voles gnaw young stems, so guard each sapling with wire for its first three years. Prune only to take out dead or blighted stems at the base.

Chinquapins do not set nuts from their own pollen, so plant two or more from different seed. Chestnut blight is the main trouble, and no treatment prevents or cures it. A blighted stem dies back, and the root crown sends up new ones. Leaf spots, anthracnose, cankers and powdery mildew can also show, and weevils take some of the nuts.

## Sources

- [Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Conservationist, January 2008: Species of Concern: Ozark chinquapin](https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/conservationist/2008-01/plants-animals)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Species and Communities of Conservation Concern Checklist 2024](https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/SOCC%20Checklist%202024_ADA_0.pdf)
- [University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, Green Horizons: Species Spotlight: The Ozark Chinquapin, Michael Gold](http://agebb.missouri.edu/agforest/archives/v22n3/gh12.php)
- [University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, Green Horizons: Species Spotlight: Ozark chinkapin, Ron Revord](http://agebb.missouri.edu/agforest/archives/v24n1/gh3.php)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Castanea ozarkensis](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=280749)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Castanea ozarkensis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500326)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Castanea pumila, including var. ozarkensis](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/caspum/all.html)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Castanea ozarkensis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1287658/Castanea_ozarkensis)
- [Center for Plant Conservation: Ozark Chinquapin (Castanea ozarkensis), profile by the Missouri Botanical Garden and Jim Locklear](https://saveplants.org/plant-profile/?CPCNum=799)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Castanea pumila var. ozarkensis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAPUO)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Castanea chapter](https://rngr.net/publications/wpsm/genera/c/at_download/file)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Why native trees become rare, and ten rare eastern species worth growing](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-native-trees-become-rare/index.html.md)
- [Native trees for insects: the beetles, wasps, cicadas and fireflies that everything else eats](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-insects/index.html.md)
- [Chinese chestnut: size, growth rate, bark, and how it differs from the American chestnut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/chinese-chestnut/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Ozark Chinquapin, add ?species=ozark-chinquapin with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=ozark-chinquapin&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Ozark Chinquapin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=ozark-chinquapin): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=ozark-chinquapin
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Ozark Chinquapin is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=ozark-chinquapin
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Ozark Chinquapin needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=ozark-chinquapin:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Ozark Chinquapin flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.