68. European Chestnut

Location: In the groove of Bagley Hall between it and the Atmospheric Sciences Building.

Historical Background: Also known as sweet chestnut, the European chestnut has been cultivated since medieval times. It was introduced to Great Britain during the Roman occupation and was first planted in the U.S. in 1803. An infusion of leaves and fruit husks can produce a shampoo rumored to give hair a golden gleam. The wood is light colored, hard, and strong. It is rot resistant and used to make posts, fencing, barrels, and roof beams. Ground into a meal the seeds can be used as a wash to whiten linens. The roasted nuts are a delicacy used as a flavoring, a flour, or a sweetener. 

Non-native

Native Range: Southeastern Europe and Asia, Caucasus Mountains

Identifying Features: Once, a relative of this species, the American Chestnut, dominated eastern forests as recently as 100 years ago. Considered one of the finer species of Chestnut in the world, it has been almost entirely decimated by a fungal blight brought by Europeans during colonization and is now almost non-existent in the wild. However, this true Chestnut of the old world is resistant and thrives on. It has a broad rounded crown and large open canopy, with wide spreading branches off a stout trunk. Leaves are oblong and sharply toothed, and bark is smooth gray brown on younger trees becoming dark and furrowed in older specimens. The chestnuts, which are generally rounded with a flattened end where they press up against one another (they grow in pairs) are brown in color with a whitish patch on the flat spot and grow in a prickly shell casing. They are edible but care must be taken not to mistake the unrelated Horse Chestnut with the real thing.

Identifying Features In Depth:

1. Form: Its stature appears oak-like, with a tall straight trunk leading to a broad rounded crown of thick branches and dense foliage. It grows to 115’ (35m) and can live to 1000 years if cultivated.

2. Leaves: Leaves are oblong and lanceolate, finely toothed along all margins and obviously different from those of the unrelated Horse Chestnut.

3. Bark: Deep fissures run spiralling up the gray trunk in both directions. 

4. Reproductive Bodies:  The nuts of this tree are edible, having great nutritional value. They are dark brown and roundish but with a flatter side where they press up against a partner (usually occurring in pairs). They are encased in a spiky shell of two chambers when opened when the nuts are mature.