Bailey & Bailey: Woody Plants of National Parks 



61 



Oak Family (Fagaceae) 

 Field Guide to the Genera 



Fiuit a spiny bur containing I to 3 nuts CASTANOPSIS, p. 61. 



Fruit an acorn comp>osed of a single nut set in a scaly cup-like involucre 



QUERCUS, p. 62. 



Chinquapin (Castanopsis Spach.) 



The chinquapins are evergreen shrubs especially interesting because of 

 their spiny bur-like fruits which resemble chestnuts. Sierra Chinquapin is 

 common in the parks of the Sierra Nevada, usually forming thickets on dry 

 ridges or in openings in the forest, the nuts are a favorite food of squirrels 

 and are gathered as soon as they are ripe. Both species send up stump sprouts 

 after a brush fire. 



Field Guide to the Species 



Round-topped shrubs; leaves blunt at the tips, mostly flat 1. C. sempervirens. 



Erect shrubs or small trees; leaves long-pointed, trough-like due to upturned margins 



2. C. chrysophylla. 



1. California Chinquapin, Sierra Chinquapin {Castanopsis sem- 

 pervirens Dudl.). — Evergreen shrub 1 to 8 feet high with branches spread- 

 ing from the base; bark brown and smooth; leaves thick and leathery, dark 

 green above, with a golden or light yellowish-green fuzz below, 1 to 3 inches 



Fig. 17. Golden chinquapm (Castanopsis chr^soph\)lla) . 



