Flora - Indigenous melliferous plants: sweet chestnut (Castanea Sativa) - miniature sheet

Flora – Indigenous melliferous plants

Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)

This tree occurs naturally throughout almost the whole of Slovenia but especially in the country’s wine regions (which are warmer), up to around 800 metres above sea level. It prefers acidic soils and sunny aspects. It is usually thought to have been brought here by the Romans, for whom it was an important source of starch and who therefore planted it in their provinces. However, pollen diagrams prove that it may have been present to some extent even earlier. Its use increased in the early Middle Ages because chestnuts, buried in sand during the winter, served as an important source of starch in the period before the introduction of other sources such as potatoes.

Roast chestnuts, whose delicious aroma fills our streets and homes around the time of the first frost, are still a symbol of autumn today. And of course the flowers of the sweet chestnut are useful too. Its male flowers, unlike those of other species of the Fagaceae family, to which Castanea sativa belongs, are insect-pollinated. The long, strong-smelling catkins are a feast for the eyes – and for bees. In the greater part of Slovenia, the sweet chestnut usually flowers at the end of May or in the first half of June. Chestnut honey also has medical applications, particularly for respiratory ailments. When the sweet chestnut is in bloom it is clearly visible in the forest, and it becomes apparent just how abundant this tree is in some parts of Slovenia. Noble forms of sweet chestnut with thicker fruits are known as maroni (from the Italian marrone) and these days are often planted in plantations; their fruits command a high price. The sweet chestnut has been decimated in Slovenia by a parasite – a species of fungus – that causes so-called chestnut blight, which first appeared in the country after 1950. The sweet chestnut should not be confused with the horse chestnut, whose fruits (actually seeds in this case) are also known as chestnuts, although the two trees are not related and the fruits of the horse chestnut are not edible. The horse chestnut does not occur naturally in Slovenia, but is planted in parks and along avenues.

Mitja Kaligarič