Sweet chestnut

The sweet chestnut, also called the Spanish chestnut or European chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, growing to as much as 35 meters tall with trunks that can exceed 4 meters in width. It bears long, toothed leaves and catkins carrying both male and female flowers, and produces brownish edible nuts enclosed in spiky sheaths. It is native to southern Europe and Anatolia, found across the Mediterranean region from the Caspian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and is widely cultivated across western and central Europe, covering roughly 2.25 million hectares of European forest as of 2004. Sweet chestnut trees typically live 500 to 600 years, and cultivated specimens have been recorded living over a thousand years. The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern.