Chestnut Oak

The last rays of the winter sun saturate a Chestnut Oak on an exposed, windy ridge line. The Chestnut Oaks here grow in a poor rocky soil, so they are small. This one is about 10" in diameter. About ten years ago a core sample was taken from a similar Chestnut on the same ridge--it is 300 years old. The Watauga Reserve, Stone Mountain. Upper Unakas, Western Blue Ridge Mountains, Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee, USA. February 2010.