Chinquapin Oak

Chinquapin oak (Castanea ozarkensis) in Riverside Park in Batesville (Independence County); 2011. The tree is 102 feet tall. Chinquapin (Independence County) received its name from the chinquapin trees that once grew in the area. Logging practices and a chestnut blight that struck the Ozarks in the 1950s and 1960s virtually wiped out the tree. Today, very few chinquapin trees are left in Arkansas, and an effort is being made to replenish them.

Photo by Delana Epperson