 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.