Chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus Castanea, in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
Chestnut trees are of moderate growth rate (for the Chinese chestnut) to fast growth rate (for American and European species). Their mature heights vary from the tallest, C. sativa that can reach , and C. dentata that can reach around , to the smallest species of chinkapins, often shrubby,Chestnuts, Horse-chestnuts, and Ohio Buckeyes . In Yard and Garden Brief, Horticulture department at University of Minnesota. Between these extremes are found the Japanese chestnut tree (C. crenata) at average; followed by the Chinese chestnut tree (C. mollissima) at about .Chestnuts worldwide and in New Zealand . By the New Zealand Chestnut Council, 2000.
The Chinese and more so the Japanese chestnut trees are both often multistemmed and wide-spreading, while C. sativa and C. dentata tend to grow very erect when planted among others, with little tapering of their columnar trunks, which are firmly set and massive. When standing on their own, they spread on the sides and develop broad, rounded, dense crowns at maturity. The foliage of the European and American species has striking yellow autumn colour.Autumn Foliage Color:Past, Present, and Future. Harvard University.
Chestnut bark is smooth when young,The American Chestnut Tree. By Samuel B. Detwiler. Reprinted from American Forestry, October, 1915. Chattooga Conservancy. of a vinous maroon or red-brown colour for the American chestnut, grey for the sweet chestnut. With age, the bark becomes grey-brown and darker, thick, and deeply furrowed; the furrows run longitudinally, and tend to twist around the trunk as the tree ages, sometimes reminiscent of a large cable with twisted strands.
The leaves are simple, ovate or lanceolate, long, and wide, with sharply pointed, widely spaced teeth, with shallow rounded sinuates between.Chestnut in Answers.com.
The flowers follow the leaves, appearing in late spring or early summer or into July. They are arranged in long catkins of two kinds, with both kinds being borne on every tree. Some catkins are made of only male flowers, which mature first. Each flower has eight stamens, or 10 to 12 for C. mollissima. The ripe pollen carries a heavy, sweet odor that some people find too sweet or unpleasant. Other catkins have these pollen-bearing flowers, but also carry near the twig from which these spring, small clusters of female or fruit-producing flowers. Two or three flowers together form a four-lobed prickly calybium, which ultimately grows completely together to make the brown hull, or husk, covering the fruit.
Chestnut flowers are not self-compatible, so two trees are required for pollination. All Castanea species readily hybridize with each other.
Fruit The fruit is contained in a spiny (very sharp) cupule in diameter, also called "bur" or "burr".Chinese Chestnut , College of Natural Resources, Department of Forestry, VirginiaTech. The burrs are often paired or clustered on the branch and contain one to seven nuts according to the different species, varieties, and cultivars.Trees of Britain and Europe. By K. Rushforth. Collins. 1999. .Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles. By W.J. Bean. 8th ed., vol. 1. John Murray. 1976. . Around the time the fruit reach maturity, the burrs turn yellow-brown and split open in two or four sections. They can remain on the tree longer than they hold the fruit, but more often achieve complete opening and release the fruit only after having fallen on the ground; opening is partly due to soil humidity.
The chestnut fruit has a pointed end with a small tuft at its tip (called "flame" in Italian), and at the other end, a hilum – a pale brown attachment scar. In many cultivars, the fruit is flattened on one or two sides. It has two skins. The first one is a hard, shiny, brown outer hull or husk, called the pericarpus;Chestnut Know-How . By David McLaren. Written for Chestnut Australia Inc. 1999. the industry calls this the "peel". Underneath the pericarpus is another, thinner skin, called the pellicle or episperm. The pellicle closely adheres to the seed itself, following the grooves usually present at the surface of the fruit. These grooves are of variable sizes and depths according to the species and cultivar.
The fruit inside these shows a germ with two cotyledons making up the creamy-white flesh throughout.What Are Chestnuts. Information page by a small Australian grower in Balingup, Western Australia. Some cultivars have consistently only one embryo per fruit (nut) or have only one large fruit per burr, well-rounded (no flat face). The name of cultivars with these characteristics may start with "marron", for example marron de Lyon in France, or Marrone di Mugello in Italy.
Chestnut fruit may not exhibit epigeal dormancy. It may germinate right upon falling to the ground in the autumn, with the roots emerging from the seed right away and the leaves and stem the following spring. The germ can lose viability soon after ripening and under drying conditions.
The superior fruiting cultivars among European chestnuts have good size, sweet taste, and easily removed pellicles (inner skins). American chestnuts are usually very small (around ), but sweet-tasting with easy-to-remove pellicles. Some Japanese cultivars have very large nuts (around ), with typically difficult-to-remove pellicles. Chinese chestnut pellicles are usually easy to remove, and their sizes vary greatly according to the cultivars, although usually smaller than the Japanese chestnut.
Similar species The unrelated horse-chestnuts (genus Aesculus) are not true chestnuts, but are named for producing nuts of slightly similar appearance that are mildly poisonous to humans. True chestnuts should also not be confused with water chestnuts, which are tubers of an aquatic herbaceous plant in the sedge family Cyperaceae. Other species sometimes mistaken for chestnut trees are the chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) and the American beech (Fagus grandifolia),Chestnut Tree in chestnuttree.net. both of which are also in the family Fagaceae. Brazil nuts, called "Brasil chestnuts" (castañas de Brasil in Spanish) or "chestnuts from Pará" (castanha-do-Pará in Portuguese) are also unrelated.
Taxonomy
Species Chestnuts belong to the family Fagaceae, which also includes oaks and beeches. The four main species groups are commonly known as American,Industry information by David McLaren. From The Chestnut Growers Information Book, Chestnut Australia Inc. European, Chinese, and Japanese chestnuts.
The taxonomy of the American chestnuts is not completely resolved, particularly between the chinkapins (Castanea ozarkensis and Castanea pumila), which are sometimes considered to be the same species. Genetics have indicated the California native golden chinkapin (Chrysolepis chrysophylla) is worthy of inclusion in a different genus along with a species from Coastal China. There is also another chestnut, Castanea alabamensis, which may be a valid species. Subgenus Image Scientific name Common name Distribution American chestnuts Castanea dentata American chestnutEastern North America Castanea pumila American or Allegheny chinkapin, also known as "dwarf chestnut" Southern and eastern United StatesThe Grocer's Encyclopedia – Encyclopedia of Foods and Beverages . By Artemas Ward. New York. 1911.Postharvest Physiology and Pathology of Chestnuts. In Postharvest Handling and Storage of Chestnuts. By Fabio Mencarelli. Food and Agriculture Organisation United Nations. November 2001.Castanea ozarkensisOzark chinkapinSoutheastern and Midwestern United States Asian chestnutsCastanea mollissimaChinese chestnut China, Vietnam, India, and North KoreaCastanea henryiChinese chinkapin, also called Henry's chestnut ChinaCastanea seguiniiSeguin's chestnutChinaCastanea crenataJapanese chestnut, Korean chestnutKorean Peninsula and Japan European chestnuts Castanea sativasweet chestnut; also called "Spanish chestnut" in the US Parts of Southern Europe, the Caucasus, Western Asia and Asia Minor
Etymology
The name "chestnut" is derived from an earlier English term "chesten nut", which descends from the Old French word chastain (Modern French, châtaigne). The French word in turn derives from Latin Castanea (also the scientific name of the tree), which traces to the Ancient Greek word κάστανον (sweet chestnut).New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. By A. Huxley ed. 1992. Macmillan . A possible source of the Greek word is the ancient town of Casthanaea in Magnesia."Essai monographique sur le châtaignier", Édouard Lamy, 1860 p.4. Its location is at the modern village of Keramidi. The town probably took its name, though, from the trees growing around it. In the Mediterranean climate zone, chestnut trees are rarer in Greece because the chalky soil is not conducive to the tree's growth. Kastania is located on one of the relatively few sedimentary or siliceous outcrops. They grow so abundantly there that their presence would have determined the place's name. Still others take the name as coming from the Greek name of Sardis glans (Sardis acorn) – Sardis being the capital of Lydia, Asia Minor, from where the fruit had spread.
The name is cited twice in the King James Version of the Bible. In one instance, Jacob puts peeled twigs in the water troughs to promote healthy offspring of his livestock.Vegetarians in Paradise . Although it may indicate another tree, it indicates the fruit was a local staple food in the early 17th century.Chestnut Tree.
These synonyms are or have been in use: Fagus castanea (used by Linnaeus in first edition of Species Plantarum, 1753),On the Name of the American Chestnut. By Geo. B. Sudworth. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Vol. 19, No. 5 (May 5, 1892), pp. 152–154 (article consists of 3 pages). Published by: Torrey Botanical Society. Sardian nut, Jupiter's nut, husked nut, and Spanish chestnut (U.S.).A Modern Herbal. By Mrs. M. Grieve.
Ecology The tree is noted for attracting wildlife. The nuts are an important food for jays, pigeons, wild boar, deer, and squirrels. American and Chinese chinquapins (C. pumila and C. henryi) have very small nuts that are an important source of food for wildlife.
Cultivation
History
Europe and the Near East