Castanea sativa, Sweet Chestnut

Common Name: Sweet Chestnut

The Sweet Chestnut, Castanea sativa, is a deciduous tree which can reach 35m when mature and live for up to 700 years. They belong to the same family as oaks and beeches. The bark is grey-purple and smooth, and develops vertical fissures with age. The twigs are purple-brown and buds are plum, red-brown and oval in shape. They can develop vast girths which can reach up to 2m in diameter.

The leaves are about 16–28 cm long, 5–9 cm wide and oblong with a pointed tip and a serrated or toothed edge. The leaves are quite glossy and there are about 20 pairs of prominent parallel veins. The flowers consist of long, yellow catkins of mostly male flowers, with female flowers at the base. Sweet chestnut is monoecious, meaning both male and female flowers are found on the same tree. After pollination by insects, female flowers develop into shiny, red-brown fruits wrapped in a green, spiky case. The trees begin to bear fruit when they are around 25 years old.

Sweet chestnut is native to southern Europe, western Asia and North Africa. The story of how sweet chestnut trees came to be in Britain is unclear. It has long been thought of as a Roman introduction, but science doesn’t definitively back this up. It may be that sweet chestnut trees are a far more recent introduction. Today can be found commonly throughout the UK in woods and copses, especially in parts of southern England where it is still managed to form large areas of coppice.

https://www.uknature.co.uk is a website dedicated to showing the immense diversity of UK nature and wildlife. Our vast range of habitats, from lowland arable to snow covered mountains, from storm-ravaged coastlines to peaceful inland freshwater lakes and rivers, from dry, sandy heaths to deciduous and coniferous forests, all these habitats contribute to the abundance of UK nature. We have wild birds in huge numbers either residing or visiting our shores (597 recorded species as at July 2013) and we must also not forget the humble back garden with its grass lawns, flower beds filled with nectar rich flowers, shrubs and trees, all designed to attract huge numbers of insects such as bees, moths, butterflies and hoverflies; and finally the small ponds which provide safe havens for frogs, toads, newts and even slow worms and grass snakes. www.uknature.co.uk is the showcase for my personal passion, photographing uknature in all its glory. I sincerely hope you all enjoy the fruits of my labours.