Deciduous tree, monoecious, up to 20-30 m in height, rounded in shape. Trunk straight, that can reach 1 m or even wider in diameter, especially in cultivated specimens, with a shorter and thicker trunk. Bark greyish-brown, very dark and longitudinally fissured in older specimens. Young branches and trunks with greenish bark, almost smooth. Branchlets of the current year green-reddish. Leaves opposite, large (10-25 \u00d7 4-8 cm), lanceolate, with coarsely serrated edge, somewhat coriaceous, dark green on the upper side and slightly lighter on the underside. Flowers grouped into long spikes, borne on the leaf axils. Male flowers borne almost throughout the entire spike, forming clusters borne on the axil of an ovate bract. Female flowers, usually 3 at the base of the spike, grouped on a common involucre, ovoid, 4 cm in diameter in cultivated trees, and much smaller in the wild. Fruit or achene is the chestnut. Seed with a hardened crust, reddish-brown, shiny and glabrous outside and whitish-velvety inside. Chestnuts are grouped 1-3 inside a capsule with bristling long spines, which opens into 2-4 valves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-12624","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n