Chestnut, sweet (Castanea sativa)

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Sweet chestnut is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to southern Europe, western Asia and north Africa.

Common name: sweet chestnut

Scientific name: Castanea sativa
Family: Fagaceae

UK provenance: non-native

Interesting fact: the Romans ground sweet chestnuts into a flour or coarse meal.

What does sweet chestnut look like?

Overview: mature sweet chestnut trees grow to 35m and can live for up to 700 years. The bark is grey-purple and smooth, which develops vertical fissures with age. The twigs are purple-brown and buds are plum, red-brown and oval in shape.

Leaves: oblong and toothed with a pointed tip, and feature around 20 pairs of prominent parallel veins.


Fruits: 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 about 25 years old.

Look out for: teeth around the edges of leaves are widely spaced. The seeds develop inside the prickly green seed cases.

Could be confused with: the nuts are similar to those of the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) but are smaller and found in clusters.

Identified in winter by: the bark has fissures which spiral around the tree.

Where to find sweet chestnut

The sweet chestnut is thought to have been introduced to the British Isles by the Romans but today it can be found commonly throughout Britain in woods and copses, especially in parts of southern England, where it is still managed to form large areas of coppice. 

Value to wildlife

The flowers provide an important source of nectar an pollen to bees and other insects, and red squirrels eat the nuts. A large number of micro-moths feed on the leaves and nuts.

Mythology and symbolism


How we use sweet chestnut

Sweet chestnut timber is similar to oak but is more lightweight and easier to work. It has a straight grain when young but this spirals in older trees. It can be used for carpentry, joinery and furniture. In south east England sweet chestnut is coppiced to produce poles.

The chestnuts can be roasted and used in a variety of recipes, including stuffing.



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