About Castanea ozarkensis Ashe
Castanea ozarkensis Ashe, commonly called the Ozark chinkapin (alternatively spelled chinquapin), is a tree species native to the United States. It belongs to the genus Castanea, a group that includes chestnuts and the types of chestnut known as chinkapins. This species grows in the Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. It may no longer exist in Alabama. The nuts produced by Castanea ozarkensis served as a food source for Indigenous peoples, early European settlers, and a range of wild animals, including the eastern gray squirrel, chipmunk, white-tailed deer, turkey, and bobwhite quail.
