While exploring Lyon, I discovered a special plant called the chestnut tree. Chestnuts are nuts that grow on trees, just like the pecans that you have in Oklahoma! They have a hard shell on the outside and a soft part you can eat on the inside. In France, chestnuts, or marrons, are very popular in the fall and winter. During the holidays, I saw them at markets and smelled them cooking on the streets. In French, a chestnut tree is called a châtaignier (sha-ten-yee-AY). One special chestnut tree comes from this area, it’s called Doré de Lyon. This tree grows big, sweet chestnuts. People roast them, boil them and use them to make desserts that families and friends enjoy together.
The Doré de Lyon chestnut tree is a very tall tree. It can grow up to 50 feet tall. That’s more than the length of a school bus! Its branches spread out wide and make the tree look like a big umbrella. The trunk is thick and covered in rough, brown bark. The tree has long green leaves with pointy edges. In the fall, the leaves turn yellow and gold. This is why the tree is called doré, which means golden in French. The chestnuts grow inside round, green balls covered in spikes. When the spiky shell opens, you can find big, shiny brown chestnuts hiding inside.
