This beautiful plant is undoubtedly an adornment of our planet. The chestnut tree belongs to the beech family. Scientists suggest that it existed in the Tertiary period. In the past, its distribution range was much larger than today: it grew in Asia Minor, Sakhalin and the Caucasus, in Greenland and North America, on the shores of the Mediterranean. The homeland of chestnut is considered to be Asia Minor and the Caucasus.
Awesome beauty
The modern chestnut tree is about 2 meters in diameter, and grows up to 35 meters in height. There are exceptions, because in Sicily there grew a "Chestnut of a hundred horsemen" of gigantic proportions, in diameter it was almost 20 meters. The leaves of the tree are quite large - up to 25 cm long, 8 cm wide plate. On shoots they are arranged spirally. The color of the leaves varies by the seasons. In spring, they are brown-red, turn green in the summer, and in the fall they turn golden yellow. In adult trees, the crown begins from a height of at least 7 meters, the lower branches fall off. After the leaves bloom, the plant immediately begins to bloom.
Fruits are the main wealth
People in ancient times realized that the chestnut tree can be used for their own purposes. Its nuts in some parts of the world where cereal cultivation is impossible, were the main component of human food. Flour derived from fruits
nutrients exceed wheat, and by mixing them, it was possible to greatly improve the taste and quality of bread. The nuts themselves were also eaten - they were cooked, fried, dried.
In the service of man
Chestnut tree is widely used today. Its fruits are used not only in the food industry, but also in medicine, and magnificent furniture is made of wood. Chestnut is an excellent honey plant, one adult tree can produce up to 20 kilograms of honey. Wood is also used in construction, and natural dyes are obtained from bark and leaves. But the main wealth of the chestnut is its fruits. The annual global production of nuts reaches one and a half million tons.
distant relative
The right to be called a true chestnut, or noble, has the right only seed chestnut (Castanea sativa). But he has a relative who is by popularity
significantly inferior to his brother, but well known in Russia. This is an ordinary chestnut, in our country called horse. In these two species, only the fruits are similar, and the leaves and flowers are completely different. They even belong to different families. The present belongs to beech, and horse - to horse chestnut.
Tree - traveler from the Balkans
More recently, horse chestnut was rarely seen in central Russia. And although the whole city of Kiev was already decorated with these magnificent trees, in the territories north of the capital of Ukraine it was considered a heat-loving guest performer. Today, chestnut, the cultivation of which has become commonplace with us, is considered to be its own in many Russian cities. And few people remember that the forests of the Balkan Mountains are its real homeland. In Europe, horse chestnut has long been revered as an outstanding tree that can decorate any park. An impressive stocky trunk, grayish-white bark and large seven-fingered leaves give it a special charm.
