The chestnut tree

The chestnut is the most useful tree in the world.

There are 4 major species –

American Chestnut (Castanea dentata),

European Chestnut (C. sativa),

Chinese Chestnut (C. mollissima)

and Japanese Chestnut (C. crenata)

and 9 less important species of the genus Castanea in the world.

Considering the importance of chestnuts

as a high carbohydrate food source for thousands of years, and the beautiful, rot-resistant wood that is used from everything from vineyard stakes,

fence posts to siding and bridge timbers,

and was a major source of tannin for tanning leather,

is there any tree that provides this range of uses and value?

Oaks, pines, and fruit trees each provide single uses for timber or food, and many have a larger total monetary value for the that use or crop than chestnuts.

However, no tree species in history has offered such a wide range of uses or importance.

It is little wonder that chestnuts

have been grown by every major culture,

and transported in conquests and explorations

to every continent where it could be grown.

Chestnuts appear in the fossil record

over 85 Million years ago, in North America, Europe and Asia.

The 13 existing species of the chestnut genus

all inter-hybridize readily,

indicating that they are not highly differentiated

from the parent species.

The European Chestnut is native to the forests of the Caucasus region around the Black Sea.

Chestnut is thought to have gotten its name

from the city Kastanis in what is now Georgia

on the east side of the Black Sea,

and has been cultivated in this region for thousands of years.

The Arabic word ‘kastanat’ and Persian word ‘kastana’ originate from the Sanskrit word ‘kashta’ which means tree.

Chestnut was the most important tree species

in ancient eastern Europe.