Chestnut

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chestnut - каштан
[ˈʧesnʌt]
American chestnut -
[əˈmerɪkən ˈʧesnʌt]
Американский каштан
dwarf chestnut карликовый каштан
[dwɔːf ˈʧesnʌt]

4.

Chinese chestnut -
[ʧaɪˈniːz ˈʧesnʌt]
Китайский каштан
Chinese chinkapin –
[ʧaɪˈniːz chinkapin]
жемчужный каштан
Seguin's chestnut каштан Сегена
[ˈsiːgən'es ˈʧesnʌt]

5.

Korean chestnut -
[kəˈriːən ˈʧesnʌt]
Корейский каштан
sweet chestnut сладкий каштан
[swiːt ˈʧesnʌt]

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Chestnut

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The chestnuts are a group of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in
the genus Castanea, in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate
regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
Chestnut trees are of moderate growth rate (for the Chinese chestnut tree) to fastgrowing for American and European species. Their mature heights vary from the
smallest species of chinkapins, often shrubby, to the giant of past American forests,
C. dentata that could reach 60 m. Between these extremes are found the Japanese
chestnut at 10 m average; followed by the Chinese chestnut at about 15 m, then the
European chestnut around 30 m.
The Chinese and more so the Japanese chestnuts are both often multileadered and
wide-spreading, whereas European and especially American species 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 latter two's foliage
has striking yellow autumn coloring.

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Its bark is smooth when young, of a vinous maroon or red-brown color for the
American chestnut, grey for the European chestnut. With age, American species' bark
becomes grey and darker, thick, and deeply furrowed; the furrows run longitudinally,
and tend to twist around the trunk as the tree ages; it sometimes reminds one of a
large cable with twisted strands.
The leaves are simple, ovate or lanceolate, 10–30 cm long and 4–10 cm wide, with
sharply pointed, widely spaced teeth, with shallow rounded sinuates between.
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
odorthat some people find too sweet or unpleasant. Other catkins have these pollenbearing 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 fruits.

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Chestnut flowers are not self-compatible, so two trees are required for pollination.
All Castanea species readily hybridize with each other.
The fruit is contained in a spiny (very sharp) cupule 5–11 cm in diameter, also called
"bur" or "burr". The burrs are often paired or clustered on the branch and contain one
to seven nuts according to the different species, varieties, and cultivars. Around the
time the fruits 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 fruits 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
varieties, 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; 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 variety.
The fruit inside these shows two cotyledons with a creamy-white flesh throughout,
except in some varieties which show only one cotyledon, and whose episperm is only
slightly or not intruded at all.

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Usually, these varieties have only one large fruit per burr, well rounded (no flat face)
and which is called "marron" (marron de Lyon in France, marron di Mugello in Italy,
or paragon).
Chestnut fruit has no epigeal dormancy and 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. Because the seeds lack a coating or internal
food supply, they lose viability soon after ripening and must be planted immediately.
The superior fruiting varieties among European chestnuts have good size, sweet taste,
and easy-to-remove inner skins. American chestnuts are usually very small (around 5
g), but sweet-tasting with easy-to-remove pellicles. Some Japanese varieties have very
large nuts (around 40 g), with typically difficult-to-remove pellicles. Chinese chestnut
pellicles are usually easy to remove, and their sizes vary greatly according to the
varieties, although usually smaller than the Japanese chestnut.

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American chestnut

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The American chestnut is a large deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern
North America. The American chestnut was one of the most important forest trees
throughout its range and was considered the finest chestnut tree in the world.
However, the species was devastated by chestnut blight, a fungal disease that came
from chestnut trees introduced from East Asia. It is estimated that between 3 and 4
billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by
blight after its initial discovery in 1904. Very few mature specimens of the tree exist
within its historical range, although many small shoots of the former live trees
remain. There are hundreds of large American chestnuts outside its historical range,
some in areas where less virulent strains of the pathogen are more common, such as
the 600 to 800 large trees in Northern Michigan. The species is listed as endangered in
the United States and Canada.
Chinese chestnut trees have been found to have the highest resistance/immunity to
chestnut blight, therefore there are currently programs to revive the American
chestnut tree population by cross-breeding the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut with
the American chestnut tree, so that the blight-resistant genes from Chinese chestnut
may protect and restore the American chestnut population back to its original status
as a dominant species in American forests.

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Castanea dentata is a rapidly-growing deciduous hardwood tree, historically reaching
up to 30 metres in height, and 3 metres in diameter. It ranged from Maine and
southern Ontario to Mississippi, and from the Atlantic coast to the Appalachian
Mountains and the Ohio Valley. C. dentata was once one of the most common trees in
the Northeastern United States. In Pennsylvania alone, it is estimated to have
comprised 25–30% of all hardwoods. The tree's huge population was due to a
combination of rapid growth and a large annual seed crop in comparison to oaks
which do not reliably produce sizable numbers of acorns every year. Nut production
begins when C. dentata is 7–8 years old.
There are several similar chestnut species, such as the European sweet chestnut,
Chinese chestnut, and Japanese chestnut. The American species can be distinguished
by a few morphological traits, such as leaf shape, petiole length and nut size. For
example, it has larger and more widely spaced saw-teeth on the edges of its leaves, as
indicated by the scientific name dentata, Latin for "toothed". According to a 1999
study by American Society for Horticultural Science, the Ozark chinkapin, which is
typically considered either a distinct species or a subspecies of the Allegheny
chinkapin may be ancestral to both the American chestnut and the Allegheny
chinkapin. A natural hybrid of Castanea dentata and Castanea pumila has been
named Castanea neglecta.

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The leaves, which are 14–20 cm long and 7–10 cm broad, also tend to average slightly
shorter and broader than those of the sweet chestnut. The blight-resistant Chinese
chestnut is now the most commonly planted chestnut species in the US, while the
European chestnut is the source of commercial nuts in recent decades. It can be
distinguished from the American chestnut by its hairy twig tips which are in contrast
to the hairless twigs of the American chestnut. The chestnuts are in the beech family
along with beech and oak, but are not closely related to the horse-chestnut, which is
in the family Sapindaceae.
The chestnut is monoecious, producing many small, pale green (nearly white) male
flowers found tightly occurring along 6 to 8 inch long catkins. The female parts are
found near base of the catkins (near twig) and appear in late spring to early summer.
Like all members of the family Fagaceae, American chestnut is self-incompatible and
requires two trees for pollination, which can be any member of the Castanea genus.
The American chestnut is a prolific bearer of nuts, usually with three nuts enclosed in
each spiny, green burr, and lined in tan velvet. The nuts develop through late
summer, with the burrs opening and falling to the ground near the first fall frost.
The American chestnut was a very important tree for wildlife, providing much of the
fall mast for species such as white-tailed deer and wild turkey and, formerly, the
passenger pigeon. Black bears were also known to eat the nuts to fatten up for the
winter.

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Dwarf chestnut

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Castanea pumila, commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American
chinquapin (from the Powhatan) or dwarf chestnut, is a species of chestnut native to
the southeastern United States. The native range is from Maryland and extreme
southern New Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania south to central Florida, west to
eastern Texas, and north to southern Missouri and Kentucky. The plant's habitat is
dry sandy and rocky uplands and ridges mixed with oak and hickory to 1000 m
elevation. It grows best on well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade.
It is a spreading shrub or small tree, reaching 2–8 m in height at maturity. The bark is
red- or gray-brown and slightly furrowed into scaly plates. The leaves are simple,
narrowly elliptical or lanceolate, yellow-green above and paler and finely hairy on
the underside. Each leaf is 7.5–15 cm long by 3–5 cm wide with parallel side veins
ending in short pointed teeth. The flowers are monoecious and appear in early
summer. Male flowers are small and pale yellow to white, borne on erect catkins 10–
15 cm long attached to the base of each leaf. Female flowers are 3 mm long and are
located at the base of some catkins. The fruit is a golden-colored cupule 2–3 cm in
diameter with many sharp spines, maturing in autumn. Each cupule contains one
ovoid shiny dark brown nut that is edible.
A natural hybrid of Castanea pumila and Castanea dentata has been named Castanea
neglecta.

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Allegheny chinquapin occurs in mixed hardwood forests among pine and oak trees
on high ridges and slopes that are free from limestone. It grows on black sandy dunes
in the Carolinas, but not on frontal dunes. It is also found on well-drained stream
terraces, dry pinelands, and disturbed sites such as railroad rights- of-way, power line
clearings, fence and hedgerows, pine plantations, and old fields. Allegheny
chinquapin is closely related to the American chestnut, Castanea dentata, and both
trees can be found in the same habitat. Allegheny chinquapin can be distinguished
by its smaller nut (half the size of a chestnut) that is not flattened (chestnuts are
flattened on one side). The leaves of the Allegheny chinquapin are smaller than the
American chestnut and have less distinct teeth. Allegheny chinquapin, however, is
less susceptible to the chestnut blight fungus that devastated the American chestnut.
While the chinquapin does blight to some degree, it continues to send out suckers
that will produce fruit. Chinquapins are quite vulnerable nevertheless, and there are
many reports of heavily diseased and cankered trees.

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Chinese chestnut

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Castanea mollissima, also known as the Chinese chestnut, is a member of the family
Fagaceae, and a species of chestnut native to China, Taiwan, and Korea.
It is a deciduous tree growing to 20 m tall with a broad crown. The leaves are
alternate, simple, 10–22 cm long and 4.5–8 cm broad, with a toothed margin. The
flowers are produced in catkins 4–20 cm long, with the female flowers at the base of
the catkin and males on the rest. The fruit is a densely spiny cupule 4–8 cm diameter,
containing two or three glossy brown nuts; these are 2–3 cm diameter on wild trees.
The scientific name mollissima derives from the softly downy shoots and young
leaves.
Chinese chestnut has been cultivated in East Asia for millennia and its exact original
range cannot be determined. In the provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong,
Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei
Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, and
Zhejiang, and also to Taiwan and Korea. It grows close to sea level in the north of its
range, and at altitudes of up to 2,800 m in the south of the range. The species prefers
full sun and acidic, loamy soil, and has a medium growth rate.

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Chinese chinkapin

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Castanea henryi, Henry chestnut, Henry's chestnut, or Chinese chinquapin (a name it
shares with Castanea seguinii), pearl chestnut is a species of chestnut native to southcentral and southeast China. A tree reaching 30 m, it is a source of good timber, but
has smaller nuts than its size might suggest. Like its close relative Castanea
mollissima (Chinese chestnut) it is widely cultivated in China, and quite a few
varieties have been developed in recent times.

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Seguin's chestnut

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Castanea seguinii, called Seguin chestnut, Seguin's chestnut, or Chinese chinquapin
(a name it shares with Castanea henryi) is a species of chestnut native to south-central
and southeast China.
Castanea seguinii are small trees or shrubs, rarely reaching 12 m. Their stipules are
narrowly lanceolate, 0.7 to 1.5 cm long, and are shed (become deciduous) when the
plant is in fruit. Leaf petioles are 0.5 to 1.5 cm long. Leaves are 6 to 14 cm long, with
their abaxial sides covered with yellowish-brown to gray scaly glands, and have
sparse hairs along the veins when young. Leaf blades are oblong-obovate to
elliptic-oblong in shape, with bases rounded or infrequently subcordate, but cuneate
when young, with acuminate apices. Leaf margins are coarsely serrate. Male
inflorescences are 5 to 12 cm long and catkin-like. Female inflorescences are held in a
cupule, with one to two (rarely more) flowers in each. Cupules are 3 to 5 cm wide, and
covered with sparsely pilose spiny bracts which are 6 to 10 mm long. Each cupule
produces two or three nuts, rarely more, with each nut being 1.5 to 2.0 cm in diameter.

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Korean chestnut

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Castanea crenata, known as Korean chestnut, Korean castanea, and Japanese chestnut,
is a species of chestnut native to Japan and Korea. Castanea crenata exhibits
resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi, the fungal pathogen that causes ink disease in
several Castanea species. The mechanism of resistance of Castanea crenata to
Phytophthora cinnamomi may derive from its expression of the Cast_Gnk2-like gene.
Castanea crenata is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10–15 m tall.
The leaves are similar to those of the sweet chestnut, though usually a little smaller,
8–19 cm long and 3–5 cm broad. The flowers of both sexes are borne in 7–20 cm long,
upright catkins, the male flowers in the upper part and female flowers in the lower
part. They appear in summer, and by autumn, the female flowers develop into spiny
cupules containing 3–7 brownish nuts that are shed during October.

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Sweet chestnut

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Castanea sativa, the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of
tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely
cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived deciduous tree,
it produces an edible seed, the chestnut, which has been used in cooking since
ancient times.
C. sativa attains a height of 20–35 m with a trunk often 2 m in diameter. The bark
often has a net-shaped (retiform) pattern with deep furrows or fissures running
spirally in both directions up the trunk. The trunk is mostly straight with branching
starting at low heights. Sweet chestnut trees live to an age of 500 to 600 years. In
cultivation they may even grow as old as 1000 years or more. Their large genetic
diversity and different cultivars are exploited for uses such as flour, boiling, roasting,
drying, sweets or wood. The oblong-lanceolate, boldly toothed leaves are 16–28 cm
long and 5–9 cm broad.