ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecol-ogy, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Castanea Sativa Mill. European chestnuts are grown for the kernels of the nuts, extensively eaten by humans and animals. Nuts used as vegetable, boiled, roasted, steamed, pureed, or in dressing for poultry and meats. In some areas, chestnuts are considered a staple food, two daily meals being made from them. In some European mountainous regions, chestnuts are still the staff of life, taking the place of wheat and potatoes in the form of chestnut flour, chestnut bread, and mashed chestnuts. Reported from the Near East Center of Diversity, European chestnut, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate bacteria, frost, mycobacteria, and slope. Native from southern Europe through Asia Minor to China. Cultivated in many parts of the Himalayas, especially in Punjab and Khasia Hills.
