FAGACEAE 



Golden Chinkapin 

 Castanopsis chrysophylla (Dougl.) A. DC. 



HABIT. A small to medium-sized tree 60-80 feet high and 

 1-2 feet in diameter (max. 125 by V/z feet), a large shrub in 

 Washington; trunk clear and straight; dense, rounded crown 

 with stout, spreading branches. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; persistent 2-3 years; lanceolate 

 to oblong-ovate; 2-6 inches long; penniveined; entire and often 

 revolute; usually acuminate; thick and leathery; dark green 

 and lustrous above; covered with small golden-yellow scales 

 below. 



FLOWERS. Monoecious; apetalous; appearing after the 

 leaves; in staminate and bisexual aments; the staminate aments 

 in 3-flowered cymes, each flower with 10-12 stamens; the pistillate 

 flowers solitary or in clusters of 2-3, with 3-celled ovaries. 



FRUIT. A rounded, broadly ovoid, yellow-brown nut Yi 

 inch long; 1-2 nuts enclosed in a 4-valved, globose bur l-H/i 

 inches in diameter and covered with prickly, dense, unbranched 

 spines; maturing in 2 years. 



TWIGS. Rather slender; rigid; round; covered at first with 

 golden-yellow scales, becoming scurfy and red-brown; pith 

 stellate. Winter buds: terminal present, ovoid, Va inch long, 

 light brown, with numerous overlapping scales. 



BARK. Thick; dark red-brown; deeply furrowed with broad, 

 scaly ridges. 



WOOD. Unimportant; intermediate in strength and hardness; 

 ring-porous; occasionally used for lumber. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Tolerant; growth rather rapid; 

 long-lived, reaching 500 years; taproot in early life, giving way 

 to deep lateral system; often in pure stands on poor, dry sites 

 and as an understory tree in redwood and Douglas-fir stands. 



GENERAL. There are about 30 Asiatic species of this genus, 

 with only 2 species native to the west coast of the United States. 

 Castanopsis sempervirens Dudl. is a small alpine shrub in California. 



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