UK Chestnuts

There are two species of chestnuts in the UK: horse chestnuts (conkers) and sweet chestnuts (roasting on an open fire). The nuts themselves are found within a protective, spikey shell called a burr.

Information is broken down into the same order for easy comparisons: Basic Information; Physical Characteristics; and Fun Facts.

     Basic Information: scientific name and family; origin and UK introduction; height and lifeapan; and prefered habitat

     Physical Characteristics: chestnut (the nut, burr, and edibility); bark; buds; leaves; and flowers.

HORSE CHESTNUT

Basic Information

Also known as the European chestnut and the conker tree, their scientific name is Aesculus hippocasta. It's part of the Sapindaceae family along with maple and lychee. 

     Native to the Balkan peninsular, they were introduced to the UK in the 16th century. 

     The trees grow up to 40m high, living for three hundred years. 

     They are found in open spaces like parks rather than woodlands. 

Physical Characteristics

Their burrs are thick and bright green with small and short, wide-spaced spikes. 

Inside the burr is one large, rounded nut. It is, unsurprisingly, a chestnut shade near mahogany. 

     Horse chestnuts are poisonous; ingestion causing abdominal pain, vomitting, and throat irritation. 

     When young, the tree bark is smooth and grey, streaked with pale pink like blush occassionally peaking from beneath the grey. As it ages, the bark darkens and develops into scaly plates. 

     A single, large, burgandy pantbrush-like bud sits at the end of the twig. They are oval, large and shiny.

     Their large leaves have serrated leaflets. They are described as palm-shaped becausr the leaves spread out from the stem like fingers from a hand. 

     Flowers are white with a little pink on them. 

Fun Facts

The twigs are stout. When twigs fall, they leave a scar, looking like an upsidedown horseshoe complete with nail holes. 

Horse chestnuts were once fed to horses. People believed the nuts would cure horses of their coughs. 

SWEET CHESTNUT

Basic Information

Their scientific name is Castanea sativa. They belong to the Fagaceae family, the same as oaks and beeches.

     Native to Asia Minor and southern Europe, many think they were introduced to thr UK. by the Romans. Others think the introduction came after.

     Particularly prevelant in southern England, sweet chestnuts prefer to grow in woods and copses.

     Growing 35m tall, they can live for 700 years. 

Physical Characteristics

The burrs are a brown-green, covered in many long, bristly spines. Two or three triangular squashed nuts lay inside the burr. These are edible.

     Their smooth bark is grey-purple, fissuring with age.

     Several small buds sit on the same twig; they are plum to red-brown, distinctly oval.

     The leaves are simple, being long.

     Male flowers are yellow catkins (long and thin) whilst female flowers are small and green. A tree has both male and female flowers.