Sweet Chestnut
Sweet Chestnut - Castanea sativa
Large spreading tree to 30 metres. Leaves oblong, pointed and toothed, scaly beneath. Flowers yellowish green in erect or spreading catkins. Fruits 1 to 3 brown shiny nuts in a very spiny splitting husk.
Woodland, particularly on acid soils.
Flowers July.
Deciduous tree.
Widespread and fairly common in Britain.
Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 73 of the 617 tetrads.
Peter Smith
Beacon Hill
15 July 2014
Graham Calow
Hinckley, Clarendon Park
03 October 2022
David Nicholls
Ulverscroft
14 July 2011
David Nicholls
Bradgate Park
29 October 2016
Barbara Cooper
Belvoir Woods
21 August 2013
detail of spiral bark
Craig Mabbett
Station Road Broughton Astley
04 September 2014
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Myzocallis castanicola
Found on the undersides of leaves of many chestnut (Castanea) and oak (Quercus) species. It is often abundant on Sweet Chestnut. Immature Myzocallis castanicola are yellowish-white or greenish-white with some brown-black dorsal markings. All adults are winged, yellow with paired black spots on the abdomen and a central dark median line on the head. The wing venation distinctly outlined in brown and forewing veins ending in brown spots. The brown wing outline distinguishes it from other Oak feeding aphids in this genus.
Stigmella samiatella
The larva of the moth Stigmella samiatella mines the leaves of Sweet Chestnut and Oak. The gallery is long and broad, frass dispersed in later part of mine. When the mine is on Oak it cannot be safely recorded from photographs.
Tischeria ekebladella
The larva of the moth Tischeria ekebladella mines the leaves of Oak and occasionally Sweet Chestnut. The mines are distinctive creamy white blotches on upper leaf-surface, wih a darker centre as it matures.
Phyllonorycter messaniella
The larva of the moth Phyllonorycter messaniella mines the leaves of Oak, Hornbeam, Beech or Sweet Chestnut, and sometimes on other tree species. The leaf mines caused by the larvae are usually found on the underside and have a typical 'tented' appearance with a crease line across the surface. The frass is characteristically arranged in a U-shape around the cocoon.
Tischeria dodonaea
The larva of the moth Tischeria dodonaea mines the leaves of Oak and Sweet Chestnut. The mine has a dark orangey blotch with a series of dark concentric rings or semicircles.