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Castanopsis (chinquapin or chinkapin) is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
 trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae
Fagaceae

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like nuts....
. The genus contains about 120 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. A total of 58 species are native to China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, with 30 endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
; the other species occur further south, through Indochina
Indochina

Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a subregion in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly east of India, south of China.The word has French origins, Indochine, and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory to bordering countries....
 to Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
, and also in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. The English name chinkapin is shared with other related plants, including the golden chinkapins of the Pacific United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, which are sometimes included within Castanopsis but are more often considered a separate but very closely related genus, Chrysolepis
Chrysolepis

Chrysolepis is a small genus in the beech family Fagaceae, endemic to the western United States, occurring from western Washington south to southern California....
.

They show many characters typical of Fagaceae
Fagaceae

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like nuts....
.






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Castanopsis (chinquapin or chinkapin) is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
 trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae
Fagaceae

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like nuts....
. The genus contains about 120 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. A total of 58 species are native to China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, with 30 endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
; the other species occur further south, through Indochina
Indochina

Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a subregion in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly east of India, south of China.The word has French origins, Indochine, and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory to bordering countries....
 to Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
, and also in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. The English name chinkapin is shared with other related plants, including the golden chinkapins of the Pacific United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, which are sometimes included within Castanopsis but are more often considered a separate but very closely related genus, Chrysolepis
Chrysolepis

Chrysolepis is a small genus in the beech family Fagaceae, endemic to the western United States, occurring from western Washington south to southern California....
.

They show many characters typical of Fagaceae
Fagaceae

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like nuts....
. They are at least large shrubs but some species grow into sizeable trees. Their leaves are usually tough and much sclerotized and have a well-developed cuticula. Their flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are unisexual, and the male ones are borne in erect catkin
Catkin

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollination but sometimes insect pollinated ....
s. The epigynous female flowers produce a single seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
 each but are congregated in small clusters. The fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 is a calybium, the kind of encased nut
Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
 typical of Fabaceae. The calybium (nut) resembles a pointed acorn
Acorn

The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oak tree . It is a nut , containing a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule....
; the cupule (casing) is hard like that of beechnuts and spiny like that of chestnuts. Three thickened ridges run the length of the calybium's shell.

Uses and ecology

In their rather circumscribed area of occurrence, Castanopsis are able to inhabit a wide range of temperate to tropical habitat
Habitat

The term habitat has a number of meanings:* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows** Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play...
 and are often keystone species
Keystone species

A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance. Such species affect many other organisms in an ecosystem and help to determine the types and numbers of various others species in a community....
 in their ecosystems. They are plentiful in ecotone
Ecotone

An ecotone is a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities . It may appear on the ground as a gradual blending of the two communities across a broad area, or it may manifest itself as a sharp boundary line....
s as diverse as Borneo montane rain forests, Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests
Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests

The Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests is an ecoregion that covers most of the island of Taiwan, with the exception of the southern tip of the island, which constitutes the South Taiwan monsoon rain forests ecoregion....
 and Northern Triangle temperate forests
Northern Triangle temperate forests

The Northern Triangle temperate forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion of northern Myanmar....
. Generally they are common in Fagales
Fagales

The Fagales are an order of flowering plants, including some of the best known trees. The order name is derived from genus Fagus, Beeches....
-dominated montane forests and temperate to subtropical laurel forests. In the latter, they are characteristic elements of the climax vegetation
Climax vegetation

Climax vegetation is the vegetation which establishes itself on a given site for given climatic conditions in the absence of anthropic action after a long time ....
 in essentially their entire continental Asian range, as well as on Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
.

Plants of this genus grow on many soil
Soil

Soil is the naturally occurring, unconsolidated or loose covering on the Earth's surface. Soil is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes including weathering and erosion....
 types, as long as they are not calcareous
Calcareous

Calcareous refers to a sediment, sedimentary rock, or soil type which is formed from or contains a high proportion of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite or aragonite....
. Several species have adapted to podsol
Podsol

In soil science, Podsol are the typical soils of coniferous, or Boreal forests. They are also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia....
ic, peat bog, swamp
Swamp

A swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land, by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammock , or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation....
 and other acid
Acid

An acid is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion Activity greater than in pure water, i.e....
ic and/or wet soils, or to the poor dry soils common in arid
Arid

A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the Individual growth and Morphogenesis of plant and animal life....
 habitat. Around the Oligo
Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Geologic Timescale and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present....
-Miocene
Miocene

The Miocene is a Geologic time scale of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain....
 boundary, Castanopsis grew abundantly along rivers and in bogs and swamps of then-subtropical Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. The prehistoric plant community Castanopsietum oligo-miocenicum is the source of much of the lignite
Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat....
 ("brown coal") deposits in Western and Central Europe.

Most species yield valuable timber
Timber

Timber may refer to:* Lumber, i.e. wood materials* Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Oregon* Timber , a 1984 arcade game by Bally Midway...
 but some have become rare due to unsustainable logging
Logging

Logging is the process in which certain trees are cut down for forest management and timber....
, C. catappaefolia
Castanopsis catappaefolia

Castanopsis catappaefolia is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is Endemism to Malaysia. Category:Flora of Malaysia It is threatened by habitat loss....
 is even in danger of extinction. As noted above, however, perhaps the most important use for Castanopsis wood is in its fossil form. 175,400 metric tons of lignite - much of which which was former chinkapin trees - were mined in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 in 2001.


As with many Fagaceae, the nut
Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
s of many Castanopsis species are edible. The trees may be grown for their nuts, but more often they are used as forestry
Forestry

Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests....
 or ornamental
Ornamental

Ornamental may refer to:*Christmas ornaments used to festoon a Christmas tree*Ornamental grass, a type of grass grown as a decoration*Ornamental iron, mild steel that has been formed into decorative shapes, similar to wrought iron work...
 trees and the nuts are collected opportunistically. Among many animals, such as tit
Tit

Tit or Tits may refer to:...
s, corvids, rodent
Rodent

Rodentia is an Order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing Incisors#The_Rodent_incisor in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s, deer
Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order even-toed ungulate are often also called deer....
 and pig
Pig

Pigs, also called hogs or swine, are a genus of even-toed ungulates within the Family Suidae. The name pig, hog, or swine most commonly refers to the Domestic pig in everyday parlance, but technically encompasses several distinct species, including the Wild Boar....
s, the nuts are popular as food too.

Meguro, Tokyo
Meguro, Tokyo

is one of the Special wards of Tokyo of Tokyo, Japan. It calls itself Meguro City in English.Meguro hosts fifteen foreign embassies and consulates....
 and Matsudo, Chiba
Matsudo, Chiba

is the third-largest cities of Japan in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and a major bedroom community in the Greater Tokyo Area. As of January 1, 2007, the city has an estimated population of 481,119....
 in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 use shii (?; Castanopsis cuspidata
Castanopsis cuspidata

Castanopsis cuspidata is a species of Castanopsis native to southern Japan and southern Korea.It is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 20-30 m tall, related to beech and oak....
) as one of their municipal symbols. The well-known and commercially important shiitake
Shiitake

The shiitake is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is cultivated and consumed in many Asian countries, as well as being dried and exported to many countries around the world....
 mushroom
Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem , a cap , and gills on the unde...
 likes to grow on the logs of C. cuspidata and derives its common name from this: shii-take simply means "Castanopsis cuspidata mushroom".

Selected species

  • Castanopsis acuminatissima
    Castanopsis acuminatissima

    Castanopsis acuminatissima is an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia and New Guinea. It is known by a variety of common names over its range, including White Oak, New Guinea Oak, Papua New Guinea Oak, ki riung, ko-duai, ko-soi, ko-mat, meranak, and riung anak....
     (Blume) A. DC. (= Castanea acuminatissima Blume, Quercus junghuhnii Miq.)
  • Castanopsis argentea (Blume) A. DC. (= Castanea argentea (Blume) Blume)
  • Castanopsis argyrophylla King ex Hook. f.
Castanopsis Cuspidata Sz2
* Castanopsis calathiformis
  • Castanopsis carlesii (Hemsl.) Hayata (= Quercus carlesii Hemsl.)
  • Castanopsis catappaefolia
    Castanopsis catappaefolia

    Castanopsis catappaefolia is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is Endemism to Malaysia. Category:Flora of Malaysia It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis ceratacantha
  • Castanopsis cerebrina
  • Castanopsis choboensis
  • Castanopsis chunii
  • Castanopsis clarkei
  • Castanopsis concinna
    Castanopsis concinna

    Castanopsis concinna is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is found in China and Hong Kong. It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis crassifolia
  • Castanopsis curtisii
    Castanopsis curtisii

    Castanopsis curtisii is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is Endemism to Malaysia. Category:Flora of Malaysia It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis cuspidata – Japanese Chinquapin, shii
  • Castanopsis delavayi Franch.
  • Castanopsis diversifolia (Kurz) King ex Hook. f. (= Castanea diversifolia Kurz)
  • Castanopsis eyrei (Champ. ex Benth.) Tutcher (= Castanopsis caudata Franch., Quercus eyrei Champ. ex Benth.)
  • Castanopsis fabri Hance (= Castanopsis stellatospina Hayata)
  • Castanopsis fargesii Franch. (= Castanopsis taiwaniana Hayata)
  • Castanopsis fissa
  • Castanopsis fordii
  • Castanopsis globigemmata
  • Castanopsis hainanensis
  • Castanopsis hystrix
    Castanopsis hystrix

    Castanopsis hystrix is a species of evergreen broadleaf tree, which grows up to 30 meters in height.The tree is found in subtropical broadleaved evergreen forests, ranging from the eastern Himalayas of Nepal, Bhutan, and northeastern India, across Indochina , southern China , and Taiwan....
  • Castanopsis indica (Roxb. ex Lindl.) A. DC. (= Castanea indica Roxb.)
  • Castanopsis inermis (Lindl.) Benth. & Hook. f. (= Callaeocarpus sumatrana Miq., Castanea inermis Lindl., Castanopsis sumatrana (Miq.) A. DC.)
  • Castanopsis javanica (Blume) A. DC. (= Castanea javanica (Blume) Blume, Fagus javanica Blume, Quercus discocarpa Hance, Quercus javanica (Blume) Drake)
  • Castanopsis kawakamii
    Castanopsis kawakamii

    Castanopsis kawakamii is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is found in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis kweichowensis
  • Castanopsis lamontii
  • Castanopsis lanceifolia (Kurz) Hickel & A. Camus
  • Castanopsis longzhouica
  • Castanopsis mekongensis
  • Castanopsis nephelioides
    Castanopsis nephelioides

    Castanopsis nephelioides is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is found in Malaysia and Singapore. It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis orthacantha
  • Castanopsis philipensis (Blanco) S. Vidal (= Fagus philipensis Blanco)
  • Castanopsis platyacantha
  • Castanopsis rockii
  • Castanopsis sclerophylla (Lindl. & Paxton) Schottky (= Quercus chinensis C. Abel, Quercus sclerophylla Lindl. & Paxton)
  • Castanopsis scortechinii
    Castanopsis scortechinii

    Castanopsis scortechinii is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is Endemism to Malaysia. It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis sieboldii (Makino) Hatus. (= Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii (Makino) Nakai, Pasania cuspidata var. sieboldii Makino)
  • Castanopsis tessellata Hickel & A. Camus
  • Castanopsis tibetana Hance)
  • Castanopsis tribuloides (Sm.) A. DC. (= Quercus tribuloides Sm.)
  • Castanopsis tungurrut (Blume) A. DC. (= Castanea tungurrut Blume)
  • Castanopsis uraiana
  • Castanopsis wallichii
    Castanopsis wallichii

    Castanopsis wallichii is a species of plant in the Fagaceae family. It is found in Malaysia and Singapore. It is threatened by habitat loss....
  • Castanopsis wattii
  • Castanopsis xichouensis


Formerly placed here

  • Castanea henryi (Skan) Rehder & E. H. Wilson (as C. henryi Skan)
  • Chrysolepis
    Chrysolepis

    Chrysolepis is a small genus in the beech family Fagaceae, endemic to the western United States, occurring from western Washington south to southern California....


Fossil record

Fossil species known from Miocene
Miocene

The Miocene is a Geologic time scale of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain....
 Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 are:
  • Castanopsis pyramidata (Menzel) Kirchheimer
  • Castanopsis salinarum (Unger) Kirchheimer
  • Castanopsis schmidtiana (Geinitz) Kräusel
These are known and identifiable from their fruit. It is not entirely clear if they belong here or into Chrysolepis
Chrysolepis

Chrysolepis is a small genus in the beech family Fagaceae, endemic to the western United States, occurring from western Washington south to southern California....
, but the pattern of biogeography
Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance....
 - with the two genera being most diverse around the Pacific but absent from North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 east of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
 suggests that they are indeed correctly assigned to Castanopsis. In addition, two form taxa refer to the remains of these trees, at least in part: the fossil wood Castanoxylon eschweilerense and the fossil pollen Tricolporopollenites cingulum ssp. pusillus.

Footnotes


External links