CHESTNUT TREE (armôn, Gen_30:37, Eze_31:8. RV [Note: Revised Version.] plane).There is no doubt that the RV [Note: Revised Version.] is correct. The chestnut tree is only an exotic in Palestine, but the plane (Arab. [Note: Arabic.] dilb) is one of the finest trees of the land. It attains great development; a wonderful specimen, which has a small room or shop within its hollow trunk, is to be seen in one of the streets of Damascus. The plane (Planus orientalis) peels its outer layers of bark annually, leaving a white streaky surface. It flourishes specially by watercourses (Sir_24:14).
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
('armon). Gen_30:37, from which Jacob pilled rods to set before the flock. Eze_31:7-8, to which the Assyrian empire is compared in beauty and strength. A tree, stately and wide spreading and growing near water, must be meant. The eastern plane tree (not ours, which is a maple, Acer pseudoplatanus) fulfills the conditions; its root, 'aaram "to be naked," "to strip off the bark," corresponds; for it yearly sheds its bark. The groves of the Academy at Athens, where Plato and Aristotle taught, were of eastern plane.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Chestnut Tree. (Hebrew, 'armon). Gen_30:37; Eze_31:8. Probably, the "palm tree," (Platanus orientalis), is intended. This tree thrives best in low and rather moist situations in the north of Palestine, and resembles our sycamore or buttonwood, (Platanus occidentalis).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863