Castanea: Journal of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society is a biannual peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society. It was established in 1936 and covers the botany of the eastern United States, in particular systematics, floristics, ecology, physiology, and biochemistry. The journal name Castanea comes from the genus of chestnuts that were fresh in the minds of the founders of the society when the journal was established; the chestnut blight ravaged the American Chestnut, Castanea dentata, in the early part of the twentieth century and drastically changed the plant communities of the Appalachians.