Castanopsis carlesii

(Hemsley) Hayata

Lesser red castanopsis

Fagaceae Edible: Seeds, Nuts 1,435 iNaturalist observations

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Description

An evergreen medium sized tree. It grows 15-20 m high. The trunk is 30-35 cm across. The leaf blade is sword shape and 4-12 cm long by 1-4.5 cm wide. It is leathery. There are 8-13 side veins on each side of the main vein. The cup is oval and 1-1.5 cm across. The outside is yellowish brown with felt like hairs. The nut is round to cone shaped.

Edible Uses

The nuts are edible raw or roasted. The seeds contain edible starch.

Traditional Uses

The seeds contain edible starch. The nuts are edible raw. They are roasted and eaten.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows 700-1300 m altitude. In China it grows in mixed and broad leafed evergreen forest below 1700 m altitude.

Where It Grows

Asia, China, Indochina, SE Asia, Taiwan, Vietnam,

Production

The tree is slow growing.

Notes

There are about 120 Castanopsis species. Many have edible nuts.

Synonyms

Quercus carlesii HemsleyCastanopsis carlesii var. sessilis NakaiCastanopsis cuspidata (Thunb.) Schottky var. carlesii (Hemsley) T. YamazakiCastanopsis longicaudata (Hayata) NakaiCastanopsis stipitata (Hayata ex Koidz.) NakaiLithocarpus stipitatus Hayata ex Koidz.Quercus longicaudata HayataShiia carlesii (Hemsley) KudoSynaedrys carlesii (Hemsley) Koidz.

Also Known As

Ca oi nho, Mi zhui

References (5)

Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, 1996, Vietnam Forest Trees. Agriculture Publishing House p 253
Hu, Shiu-ying, 2005, Food Plants of China. The Chinese University Press. p 341
Icon. pl. formos. 6(suppl.):72. 1917
Luo, B., et al, 2019, Wild edible plants collected by Hani from terraced rice paddy agroecosystem in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 15:56 (As var. spinulosa
Reis, S. V. and Lipp, F. L., 1982, New Plant Sources for Drugs and Foods from the New York Botanical Garden herbarium. Harvard. p 38