Provence-Beyond (Beyond the French Riviera) ®
A walk through the Trees
[Flora Terms]
Photos: A larger photo of the marronnier (36 k)
. . . . . . A larger photo of the châtaignier (42 k)
Horse Chestnut (Marronnier)
| Aesculus hippocastanum |
The Horse Chestnut grows to about 25-30 m high, with a large, rounded shape, and the trunk is thick and usually short. It's used widely in our Beyond region as a shade tree in parks and village squares (although not quite so common as the plane tree). The tree in our photo here is at the village of Mons.
The fruit of the horse chestnut is a spiny, green sphere about 4 cm diameter. When it ripens, the thick green husk splits to reveal one or more smooth brown nuts.
In Britain, the inedible nut is called a conker. Its main use is for a game: With your favorite conker tied to a string, you swing it against your competitor's conker until one of them breaks. The winner (with the unbroken conker) takes on all comers until the king of the conkers is established.
Chestnut (Châtaignier)
| Castanea sativa |
The châtaignier can also grow to 30 m, but has a taller trunk and lacks the thick, rounded shape of the horse chestnut. The 400-year-old châtaigniers in the photo was taken in March, in the Maures.
The sweet chestnut is grown for its fruit, which looks similar to the horse chestnut, but has a flattened side and has the advantage of being edible. In France, street vendors sell roasted chestnuts, called marrons. These marrons are actually the châtaignes from the châtaigner, not the nuts from the marronnier.
