Ozark chestnut tree named ‘Oz Hunter’

Abstract

‘Oz Hunter’ is a new and distinct North American Castanea cultivar that is blight-resistant, precocious and a producer of heavy annual crops of one to six nuts per bur. It produces a heavy crop of nuts each year with a small-sized nut containing the highest protein and carbohydrate percent of any chestnut. Nut drop begins around September 10 and continues for a seven- to eight-week period. Most of the nuts produced drop in the first five weeks of the period of nut drop from this cultivar. ‘Oz Hunter’ is a medium-sized tree that has an elliptic-shaped canopy with high upright to spreading and diffuse lateral branches. This ten-year-old cultivar is 7.92 meters tall with a canopy covering an area 21.22 square meters. Its heavy nut crop occurs from early September through mid-November, providing the highest protein and carbohydrate nut crop of any chestnut for people and wildlife.

I claim: 
     
       1. A new and distinct variety of Ozark chestnut tree named ‘Oz Hunter’, substantially as illustrated and described herein.