This time of year is the season for edible chestnuts. Castanea sativa, or Chinese chestnut, has a pointy or tassel end opposite the “eye” where it is attached to the inside of its burr. The burr can contain several chestnuts.

The burrs which shed with the nuts, or at the time nuts fall, are troublesome as they get all over under the tree. They’re not comfortable to step on and are a deterrent to using the edible chestnut for a street tree.

The chestnuts themselves, however, are sweet and can be roasted or eaten raw. My grandmother had an edible chestnut tree at the end of her block in southeast Portland. We used to pick a paper sack full and take it home to roast the chestnuts. Some people use chestnuts in turkey dressing.

I enjoy going to Asian ethnic grocery stores this time of year to bring home my annual allotment of chestnuts which I prefer to eat raw, taken out of the shell by cutting the nut in half. Sometimes you can find chestnuts at regular grocery stores.

The “other kind” of chestnut, the horse chestnut, is a distant relative and is definitely not edible. The horse chestnut, or buckeye, has the botanical name, Aeschylus hippocastanum. The horse chestnut is rounded, not pointed, and is likely to have only one chestnut in each smoothish hull.

Horse chestnuts are used medicinally to lower blood pressure and improving circulation by interfering with the action of platelets.

Both kinds of chestnuts grow on long-lived trees that grow to a substantial size — possibly 120 feet tall with a spread of 80 to 90 feet. It’s the chestnut time of year along with pumpkins, colorful trees, and the smoke of autumn leaves drifting through neighborhoods.