 The chestnut blight was accidentally introduced to North America around 1904 when "Cryphonectria parasitica" was introduced into the United States from East Asia from the introduction of the cultivation of Japanese chestnut trees into the United States for commercial purposes.It was first found in the chestnut trees on the grounds of the New York Zoological Garden (the "Bronx Zoo") by Herman W. Merkel, a forester at the zoo.In 1905, American mycologist William Murrill isolated and described the fungus responsible (which he named "Diaporthe parasitica"), and demonstrated by inoculation into healthy plants that the fungus caused the disease.