茅栗 mao li

Castanea davidii Dode.

Trees or shrubs small, rarely to 12 m tall. Stipules narrowly lanceolate, 0.7-1.5 cm, deciduous in fruit. Petiole 0.5-1.5 cm; leaf blade oblong-obovate to elliptic-oblong, 6-14 cm, abaxially covered with yellowish brown or grayish, scalelike glands and sparsely hairy along veins when young, base rounded to sometimes subcordate but cuneate when young, margin coarsely serrate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences 5-12 cm. Female flowers solitary or few per cupule. Cupule 3-5 cm in diam., covered with sparsely pilose spinelike bracts 6-10 mm. Nuts 2 or 3 or rarely more per cupule, 1.5-2 cm in diam. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Sep-Nov.

* Mixed mesophytic forests, thickets, and in orchards; 400-2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang

Cultivated for its edible nuts but not as extensively as Castanea mollissima.