Flora

This is a sight we have not seen in the US in more than a hundred years: a blooming chestnut tree. Before the American Revolution, when someone (Daniel Boone?) said a squirrel could run from the Chesapeake to the Mississippi without touching the ground, over 40% of the great North American forest was chestnut trees. And they were highly prized for the high quality of the wood for furniture-making: the grain was straight and tight. We can still see some, in old houses in the East, and occasionally a table will show up on Antiques Roadshow. But that’s the only way we will see this great tree. The Chestnut Blight wiped them all out. I hear the tree science folks might be close to solving this problem, and creating a blight-resistant chestnut. Let’s wish them well!
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