regnum-plantae: Castanea sativa, Fagaceae While I was in Italy during the past few days I went
regnum-plantae:Castanea sativa, FagaceaeWhile I was in Italy during the past few days I went for a beautiful walk in the woods with my family to collect sweet chestnuts, something we used to do every autumn when I was a kid. This large, deciduous species is native to Southern Europe and the Near East, where it has been cultivated for millennia, but has also been introduced to more northerly areas in historical times, to the point it’s been a naturalised species for many centuries in some places. On the hills north of Milan it’s widespread in mixed woodland, but due to its past importance as a food and wood crop, you can find entire sections of forest where it is the dominant tree. In the area we visited the chestnuts trees were scattered among a majority of beech (Fagus sylvatica), so we only collected what we would eat that day and left many more for the red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) I spotted there from time to time, quick to climb high up in the canopy as soon as I’d get too close. It was nice to see the invasive eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), ubiquitous here in central Scotland, hasn’t displaced them for now. Once we got back home I roasted the chestnuts in a skillet (I didn’t have time to set up the barbecue) and we all enjoyed them sprinkled with salt. Little else makes me as happy as eating what I collected after a good forage in the woods! -- source link
#castanea sativa#sweet chestnuts#italy#regnumplantae