page_title: Castanea sativa
section_title: Pests and diseases
hierarchical_section_title: Castanea sativa / Pests and diseases
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Châtaignier (Castanea sativa) millénaire - Habitat: route du site de Cucuruzzu à Levie, - ( Corse-du-Sud) - France. English: Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) thousand of years old. - Habit: road of Cucuruzzu site in Levie ( Corse-du-Sud) - France. Corsu: Castagnu (Castanea sativa) millanicu. - Locu: rotta di Cucuruzzu à Livia ( Corsica sutanna) - Francia. Walon: Castagnî (Castanea sativa) vî di mil ans - Place: route do site di Cucuruzzu a Levie – Corse-do-Sud - France.
context_page_description: Castanea sativa, the sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut or just chestnut, is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae, native to Southern Europe and Asia Minor, and widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. A substantial, long-lived deciduous tree, it produces an edible seed, the chestnut, which has been used in cooking since ancient times.
context_section_description: The leaves provide food for some animals, including Lepidoptera such as the case-bearer moth Coleophora anatipennella and rose chafer Macrodactylus subspinosus.
  The two major fungal pathogens of the sweet chestnut are the chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) and the ink disease caused by Phytophthora cambivora and Phytophthora cinnamomi. In North America as well as in Southern Europe Cryphonectria parasitica destroyed most of the chestnut population in the 20th century. With biological control, the population of the sweet chestnut is not threatened anymore by the chestnut blight and is regenerating. Ink disease is infesting trees mostly in humid soils, with the mycelium invading the root and resulting in wilting of the leaf. Absence of fruit formation leads to die back of the petal. The ink disease is named after the black exudates at the base of the trunk. Nowadays there are cultivars that are resistant to the ink disease. Phytophthora cambivora caused serious damage in Asia and the US, and it still continues to destroy new plantations in Europe.
  Another serious pest which is difficult to control is the gall wasp (Dryocosmus kuriphylus) which was recently introduced in Southern Europe, originating from Asia.
caption: Sweet chestnut a thousand years old in Levie (Corsica)
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