Allegheny Chinquapin nuts appear much like a chestnut seeds but are much smaller. Some trees in the Appalachian Mountains of the Allegheny Chinquapin near North Carolina and Tennessee grow to 30 feet, and the nuts are harvested by shaking limbs with bamboo poles. The harvest time for Allegheny Chinquapin is during the Fall, when bus loads of Chinquapin lovers drive to the mountains to collect the sweet nuts. The Allegheny Chinquapin grows in most Southern states from Florida through Carolina and North into New Jersey and PA as a native tree the Allegheny Chinquapin also grows as a native tree as far as TX and OK. The nut of the Chinquapin tree is protected by a sharp encasing which begins to split open when the nut ripens. The flowers of the Allegheny Chestnut are white tubular blooms about 6 inches long and fragrant- a food source, pollen, for bees and butterflies.
