Castanea mollissima

COMMON NAME: Chinese Chestnut

FAMILY: Fagaceae

GROWTH HABIT: Medium sized to 60 ft., usually spreading tree.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple, 5 - 8 in. long, 2 - 3 in. wide. Thick, shining leaves. Bristle-like teeth and coarsely toothed.

BUDS: Two to 3 scales weakly overlapping, gray-brown, pubescent, 1/8 in. long.

BARK: Gray-brown to brown and strongly ridged and furrowed. Young shoots downy, buff-colored.

FLOWERS: Pale yellow or creamy, of heavy, unpleasant odor, monecious, staminate in erect cylindrical catkins, pistillate on the lower part of the upper staminate catkins, usually 3 in a prickly symmetrical shell. June.

FRUIT: Nuts large, often 1 in. across. Splits at maturity. Fruits are edible.

NATIVE HABITAT: China, Korea