| English Name | Green's Chestnut |
|---|---|
| Status in China | Vulnerable (VU). Recorded in China Plant Red Data Book and Illustration of Rare & endangered plant in Guangdong Province. |
Description:
Evergreen trees; branchlets glabrous. Leaves leathery, ovate to lanceolate, 7-12 cm long and 2.5-4.5 cm wide, margin entire or rarely 1-3-toothed near apex, glabrous; lateral nerves 8-15 pairs. Female inflorescence 5-10 cm long; rachis glabrous. Cupule globose, 6-8 cm in diam., splitting into 4 or 5 segments, covered with clustered branching prickles. Nut 1 per cupule, oblate, 1.2.-1.5 × 1.7-2 cm, densely yellowish brown puberulent.
Distribution:
Restricted to Wu Kau Tang. SE Guangxi, N Guangdong, S Jiangxi, S Fujian, C Taiwan.
Habitat and Ecology:
In broadleaved evergreen forest and fung shui woods. Flowering: Mar.-Apr.; fruiting: Aug.-Oct.
The species has a discontinuous distribution range and it is closely related to Castanopsis borneensis King from Kalimantan and is thus of great scientific interests. The large nuts are rich in starch and edible; wood is hard, suitable for making furniture. Because the natural population is now small, it is under inbreeding depression. The nuts are often damaged and consumed by rodents and birds, therefore very few seedlings can be found on forest floor. In Hong Kong, the locality of its occurrence is in Country Park under protection.
References:
中國科學院植物研究所，1972：中國高等植物圖鑒1：423。圖845。科學出版社，北京。
傅立國等，1992：中國植物紅皮書296。科學出版社，北京。
陳煥鏞、黃成就，1999：中國植物誌22：26。圖版5：1-4。科學出版社，北京。
