Fancy a snack? by darrenboyj

Fancy a snack?

These sweet chestnuts were falling quite frequently inside the Lemur enclosure at the West Midland Safari Park.

The Lemurs were enjoying them as a snack in today's sunshine (which has been pretty sparse this last week!) and I've never realised just how sharp the spikes protecting them were!

Castanea sativa is a species of flowering plant in the family Fagaceae, native to 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.

The tree is commonly called the "chestnut", or "sweet chestnut" to distinguish it from the horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum, to which it is only distantly related. Other common names include "Spanish chestnut", "Portuguese chestnut" and "marron" (French for "chestnut"). The Latin sativa means "cultivated by humans".

C. sativa attains a height of 20–35 m (66–115 ft) with a trunk often 2 m (7 ft) in diameter. The bark often has a net-shaped (retiform) pattern with deep furrows or fissures running spirally in both directions up the trunk. The oblong-lanceolate, boldly toothed leaves are 16–28 cm (6–11 in) long and 5–9 cm (2–4 in) broad.

The flowers of both sexes are borne in 10–20 cm (4–8 in) long, upright catkins, the male flowers in the upper part and female flowers in the lower part. In the northern hemisphere, they appear in late June to July, and by autumn, the female flowers develop into spiny cupules containing 3-7 brownish nuts that are shed during October. The female flowers eventually form a spiky sheath that deters predators from the seed. Some cultivars ('Marron de Lyon', 'Paragon' and some hybrids) produce only one large nut per cupule, rather than the usual two to four nuts of edible, though smaller, size.
Beautiful capture and detail.
October 23rd, 2013  
Smashing colours and textures! These look like sweet chestnuts to me.
October 23rd, 2013  
I don't think I've ever heard of these - looks very prickly!
October 23rd, 2013  
Wow! So I have been wondering what conkers are...nuts? Is this the outer covering? So interesting and quite lovely...but they do look like they would be a painful to pick up. Wouldn't want one falling on my head. Great capture and detail!!
October 23rd, 2013  
Brilliant capture, reminds me so much of school days and all those aching painful knuckles!!
October 23rd, 2013  
@steampowered cheers for letting me know they are sweet-chestnuts!
October 23rd, 2013  
@eyesmile Thanks Gena, these are actually sweet-chestnuts which has been kindly pointed out to me. The spikes were very sharp with the chestnuts located inside. The Lemurs were loving them as a snack!
October 23rd, 2013  
Wonderful colours, such a contrast with the ground. Thanks for the information, appreciated as always :)
October 23rd, 2013  
Excellent shot -- looks like a sea urchin.
October 23rd, 2013  
I love these... I have never seen one in it's shell before! Awesome
October 23rd, 2013  
Cool, great detail. Love the color and textures!
October 23rd, 2013  
A beautiful sharp close-up. I used to love collecting sweet chestnuts as a child, but they were always so difficult to get into - those prickly shells were quite hard on the fingers, and then if you ate them raw, it was hard to get off the brown skins too!
October 23rd, 2013  
love the detail great colour :)
October 23rd, 2013  
Beautiful detail! Great shot!
October 23rd, 2013  
Love the contrast of the prickly shell and the tempting sweet chestnuts. Looks great on that surface too.
October 23rd, 2013  
How interesting. I don't think I've seen chestnuts in a burr like that. Nice color.
October 23rd, 2013  
brilliant shot Darren
October 23rd, 2013  
Wonderful shot, love the bright green spiky case and the lovely nuts nestling inside. Great background too.
October 23rd, 2013  
Great colour. Good shot
October 23rd, 2013  
Great colour and texture
October 24th, 2013  
Super colours in this image, and sharp!
October 24th, 2013  
Fav. When I first saw it I thought they were baby birds with their beaks open!
October 24th, 2013  
Great shot. Love the colours and the peep of what's inside. Great composition.
October 24th, 2013  
great composition, so clear !
October 24th, 2013  
Jo
Love how the green really pops out at you, great shot.
October 24th, 2013  
Beautiful comp. Just like little birdies in their nest. ;)
October 24th, 2013  
Nice comp., textures and close up!
October 25th, 2013  
Oh, nice! This inspires me to maybe pursue a shot today of a sweet gum "ball" I pulled out of the yard to possibly make a subject today!
October 25th, 2013  
Lovely photo. The French love them. The supermarkets have shelves full of tins of marrons. Not my cup of tea though.
October 26th, 2013  
Superb capture... love the colors! fav
October 27th, 2013  
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