Chinese Chestnut
Castanea mollissima [Sarah Cunningham]
Fagaceae
Growth habit
Tree
Perennation
Long-lived polycarpic perennial
Location
Cornell Class of 1938 Native Maple Slope
Source of plant
Sandra Anagnostakis
Description
Broad crowned, stout-trunked tree to 20m. Young shoots thinly or velvetly hairy. Leaves 12-22x5-9cm, glabrous above, tomentose at least on veins to almost glabrous beneath, varying even between leaves of one tree, broadly oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, apex acuminate, margin with triangular or aristate teeth; petiole short, 1 cm. Male catkins 10-20cm. Fruit clustered 1-4, yellow-green burr 5-8cm with dense slender spines, nuts 1-4, 2-3cm, to 3.5-4cm on selected clones. Exact range uncertain due to extensive cultivation; wild or natualized in Korea and most of China from Beijing to Yunnan.(DS 350) These plants were open pollinated. (DS 730)
USDA Hardiness Zone
5
Special characteristics
food