journal 9.indb

POLISH JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(Pol. J. Ecol.)
55
1
175–179
2007
Short research contribution
Andrzej URBISZ, Alina URBISZ
Department of Plant Systematics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection University of
Silesia, Jagiellońska 28, 40-032 Katowice, Poland
e-mail: aurbisz@us.edu.pl, alurbisz@us.edu.pl
EUROPEAN CHESTNUT (CASTANEA SATIVA MILL.) – A TREE
NATURALIZED ON THE BALTIC SEA COAST?
ABSTRACT: European chestnut (Castanea
sativa Mill.) is one of the most known trees occurring in Europe. Therefore history of spread of the
species on this continent is a subject of interest of
many authors. At present this species is naturalized in southern and middle Europe. In Poland
it is often cultivated in parks, gardens but it has
not been treated as a permanent element of the
Polish flora so far. The closest localities, where it
is naturalized, are in Czech and middle Germany.
In the years 2000–2005 spontaneous spread of the
species on the Baltic coast in urban sites (town
of Łeba, 54o45’N, 17o33’E) was observed, where
its population amounts to one hundred of individuals dispersed up to 600 m. This is the first
locality of Castanea sativa in Poland, where it occurs spontaneously. This finding would probably
enable to move the border of European chestnut
range in Europe towards northern-eastern direction by several hundreds kilometers.
KEY WORDS: Castanea sativa, chestnut,
distribution, naturalization, Poland
Since ancient times several hundreds
plant species were introduced into Poland
which nowadays occur spontaneously. Majority of them grow in man-made habitats
and only some species penetrate into natural habitats, where they compete with native
journal 9.indb 175
species (e.g. Acer negundo L., Padus serotina
(Ehrh.) Borkh., Quercus rubra L., Reynoutria
japonica Houtt., Robinia pseudoacacia L.).
The european chestnut (Castanea sativa
Mill.) is one of the most known species, used
by humans, which has not been included to
permanent elements of the Polish flora. History of the spread of this tree in Europe is
a subject of many reviews (C one d e r a et al.
2004, Kreb s et al. 2004).
Results of this species studies, presented
in the paper, permit to include European
chestnut to the set of species probably naturalized in the Polish flora. It seems that due
to warmer winters in recent years number of
spontaneous localities of this species may be
considerably greater.
The genus Castanea, amounts to 7–12
species occurring mainly in warmer regions
of temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. The most important of them are: Castanea sativa Mill. (Europe, Little Asia, North
Africa.) C. dentata (Marsh.) Borkh. (USA),
Castanea mollissima Blume and C. crenata
Sieb. et Zucc. (Eastern Asia). Castanea sativa
– ang. (chestnut, European chestnut, sweet
chestnut, Spanish chestnut), fr. (châtaignier
vulgaire, châtaignier commun), ital. (Castagno domestico, Marrone), germ. (Ess-Kas-
2007-03-29 13:15:03
Baltic Sea
;
;
;
;
;
Nadmorska
;
;
0
|
river
Łeba
Jach
tow
a
Brzozow a
100
500 m
|
|
L egend
mature trees
of C as tanea s a tiva
;
seedlings
and young trees
buildings
beach
swamps
forested areas
grass areas
port areas
Fig.1.
of Castanea
Mill. in Łeba
Fig.The
1. locality
The locality
of sativa
C as tanea
town
(Poland).
s a tiva Mill. in Łeba town (Poland)
journal 9.indb 176
Fig. 2. The highest young tree (–2 m).
Fig. 2. The highest young tree (~2 m)
2007-03-29 13:15:03
Castanea sativa Mill. – a tree naturalized in Poland?
tanie, Marone) – belong to Fagaceae family
(Bro oks 1937, S enet a 1994).
European chestnut (Castanea sativa) is
a tree with a wide crown, which on favorable
conditions can grow up to 30 meters. Cortex of saplings is grey-brown and smooth
but cortex of elder individuals is darker and
cracked. Leaves are single, alternate, lanceolate and dentate, 10–20 cm long. Flowers are
monoecious in spikelike inflorescens 30 cm
long, some of them are constituted of only
male flowers, but at the base of the others 2–
3 female flowers occur. Fruits – nuts (called
chestnuts) 3 cm of diameter, are collected 1–
3 (4) in spheral cupule and covered by thorns
(Po dbiel kowsk i 1974, S enet a 1994, S e net a and D ol atowsk i 1997).
European chestnut is a Mediterranean
species, occurring mainly in regions with
precipitation above 600 mm on light acid
soils (pH 4.5–6.5). It requires high humidity and it is sensitive to late ground frosts.
The major diseases of the tree are caused by
a few species of Phytophthora and by chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). In
natural range European chestnut occurs in
mixed forests of southern Europe. However,
on the whole continent it is planted as a fruit
and ornamental tree (Fer nánde z- L óp e z
and A lí a 2003). The oldest individuals of
the species live about 500 years and longer
(Po dbiel kowsk i 1974). Legendary chestnut called “tree of 100 horses”, growing on
slopes of Etna had 56 meters in perimeter
(S enet a 1994).
European chestnut blooms late, the most
often in July. Fruits start ripening from September till October or November. It is anemophilous species but sometimes can be
pollinated by insects. There are also mechanisms preventing from self-pollination (sterile stamens, dichogamy). Weight of fruits affects the distance of spread of the species but
it is very often spread by birds which transport them several hundreds meters away of
mature specimens (Kol lman and S chi l l
1996). Size of pollen (14–18 μm) facilitates its
spread up to 100 km (Fer nánd e z - L óp e z
and A lí a 2003).
The genus Castanea existed already in
Tertiary period about 85–60 million years
ago (Gro ot and Gro ot 1962, D r ug g 1967,
Sne ad 1969, R ous e et al. 1971, Stone
journal 9.indb 177
177
1973, Jarz en 1978, Ke dve s and He r n g re en 1980). Pick of development probably achieved in Miocene and Pliocene (Mai
1995). At the end of Tertiary as a result of
climate cooling European chestnut started to
extinct in northern part of Europe (Tomsk ay a 1980).
Some of scientists believe that the species
vanished in southern part of Europe during Baltic glaciation and preserved only in
northern-eastern Turkey and in Caucasus. It
is indicated by the fact that highest genetic
variety of the species occurs in eastern Turkey and decrease towards west (Vi l l an i et
al. 1991a, b; Manchon et al. 1996).
Other authors (Pitte 1986, Ai ra-R o d r i g u e z and R am i l - R e go 1995) claim that
in time of glaciations the chestnut survived
only in refuges. Kreb s et al. (2004) distinguished 6 such regions: areas to the south of
Black Sea, southern and middle Italy, northeastern Italy, northern part of Iberian Peninsula, southern Greece and north-western
part of Syria.
In first centuries of our era fruits and
wood of chestnut were used by people inhabiting mountain regions (Gabr i el li 1994). It
was more frequently planted in 10th century
and in next centuries its range increased.
Only in 19th century it ceased to be a cultivated plant due to Phytophthora appeared.
After World War II despite the introduction
of other species of chestnut, more resistant to
this disease, cultivation of that tree wasn’t so
popular, as before.
Nowadays Castanea sativa occurs mainly
in Southern and Western Europe, where it is
naturalized species. It occupies the largest areas in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey,
England and Greece. Its range to the northeastern becomes thinned (Ja l as and Su om i nen 1989). In eastern Germany, Czech, as
well as in Slovakia the species persists on single localities. In Poland in spite of sporadical
occurrence of seedlings of this tree (Brow i cz 1973, S enet a 1994) spontaneous spread
of this species was not observed.
In Poland European chestnut is cultivated
most frequently in parks and along roadsides
in south-western part of the country and at
the seaside (Brow i cz 1973). The oldest and
thickest chestnut trees occur in Baltic Sea
coast (town of Puck) and in western Poland
2007-03-29 13:15:03
178
Andrzej Urbisz, Alina Urbisz
Table 1. Spreading of Castanea sativa Mill. individuals in the succeeding observation years in town of
Łeba (Baltic coast) (see Fig. 1). (nd – no data available)
Year
Number of individuals
Average spread distance from 3 mature trees
planted 30 years ago – (localization see Fig. 1)
before 2000
nd
nd
2000
~20
~50 m
2001
~35
~100 m
2002
nd
nd
2003
~70
~200 m
2004
~80
~400 m
2005
~100
~600 m
(town of Zielona Góra) (Pac y n i a k 1992).
The locality, where spontaneous spread and
regeneration of this species was observed, is
situated in town of Łeba (Fig. 1), close to outlet
of Łeba river to Baltic Sea. The population of
European chestnut, observed by the authors
since 2000, amount to ca 100 individuals at
the age of 1 years and more (Table 1.). All
seedlings and young specimens had a good
fitness. The highest individual of them was
more then 2 m high in 2005 (Fig. 2). Their
leaves, of a mean length approximately up to
15 cm, were not damaged in any visible way.
European chestnut was probably spread by
birds (Garrulus glandarius L.) which transported its fruits from 3 mature trees localized
along one of the main street, which is several
hundred meters away from the place where
seedlings of the species are at present (Fig. 1).
Those trees are approximately 30 years old
and since 2000 all regularly produced fruits.
Their seeds were brought from Caucasus by
the property owner. Interesting is that single
specimens of the chestnut were observed in
further distance from mature trees even at
the other side of outlet of Łeba river (Fig. 1).
The seedlings of the chestnut grow there in
the suboceanic fresh pine forest (LeucobryoPinetum) with admixture of common oak
(Quercus robur L.), sessile oak (Q. petraea
(Matt.) Liebl.), downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.), beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and
rowan (Sorbus aucuparia L. emend. Hedl.).
The association develops on scarce, sandy,
strongly podzolic soils with low groundwater
level. Because this area is situated in centre
of the town, many accompanying species are
typical to human impact like: Aesculus hip-
journal 9.indb 178
pocastanum L., Geum urbanum L., Impatiens
glandulifera Royle, Lapsana communis L. s.
st., Lolium perenne L., Plantago major L. s. st.,
Poa annua L., Quercus rubra L., Rubus idaeus
L., Stellaria media (L.) Vill., Urtica dioica L.
European chestnut is a Mediterranean
species which naturally occurs only in
southern Europe and Little Asia. Because
this tree has been cultivated for many years,
nowadays it is found almost on the entire
continent. Climate warming in recent years
(Kożuchowski and D egir mendžić 2005)
and high adaptive abilities of the species influence the expansion of its range where it
occurs spontaneously. Because in Poland this
species has not been considered as naturalized, the locality recorded by the authors,
where it spreads spontaneously, is new and
probably the most protruding north-eastern
site of the occurrence of this species in Europe.
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