 The unrelated horse-chestnut's seeds are poisonous without extensive preparation.Native Americans used various parts of the American chestnut to treat ailments such as whooping cough, heart conditions and chafed skin.The nuts were commonly fed on by various types of wildlife and was also in such a high abundance that they were commonly used to feed livestock by farmers, by allowing those livestock to roam freely into the forests that were predominantly filled with American Chestnut trees.