Some may be surprised to learn that the Horse Chestnut is not really a chestnut. They are actually a member of a completely different family, Hippocastanaceae, which contains horse chestnuts and buckeyes.

By browsing the following sites, one will also find that there are at least five different species of chestnuts that can be found in the eastern United States, but there are several other species and subspecies that can be found worldwide.

SITES ON CHESTNUT IDENTIFICATION

• Identifying chestnut trees in the woods:
  • In the Spring

• From the TACF Field Guide
• From the ACCF - the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation
• From TACF Regional Science Coordinator, Dr. Paul Sisco - Includes great pictures comparing several chestnut species, as well as species that are often confused for chestnuts.
• From PA Chapter identification expert Dave Armstrong (graphics-heavy PDF document, approximately 4 MB in size)
• Cultivars of Chestnuts
• Nuts Fact Sheets
• Dichotomous key - From the Northern Nut Growers Association website, this key was written by Sandra L. Anagnostakis, Phillip Gordon, and Fred V. Hebard.
• Dichotomous key (2) - Written by Dr. Richard H. Zander, Research Scientist for the Missouri Botanical Garden and ID expert for the NY Chapter.