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Castanea mollissima
Also called Chinese Hairy Chestnut, Chinese Castanea
Castanea mollissima is a deciduous nut tree from East Asia that grows to about 20 m with a broad crown; it is grown mainly for its sweet chestnuts, with over 300 cultivars. Give it full sun and well-drained, slightly acidic loamy soil.
Castanea mollissima, also known as the Chinese chestnut, is an Asian species of chestnut tree in the family Fagaceae.
The species is native to China, Taiwan, and Korea.
The nuts are edible, and the tree is widely cultivated in eastern Asia; over 300 cultivars have been selected for nut production, subdivided into five major regional groups: Northern, Yangtze River Valley, Sichuan and Guizhou, Southern, and Southwestern. Besides that, the Dandong chestnut (belonging to the Japanese chestnut – Castanea crenata) is a major cultivar in Liaoning Province. Some cultivars, such as 'Kuling', 'Meiling', and 'Nanking', have large nuts up to 4 cm diameter. The nuts are sweet, and considered by some to have the best taste of any chestnut, though others state they are not as good as the American chestnut.
Japanese chestnut · American chestnut · Henry Chestnut · Castanea × neglecta · Ozark chinkapin · Chinkapin · Sweet chestnut · Chinese Dwarf Chestnut · Chestnut
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Castanea mollissima by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
