Castanea mollissima Blume

vernacular Chinese chestnut — species · Fagaceae

USDA: CAMO83
GBIF: 5333237
Rank: species

Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima) — Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Fagaceae Dumort.
Genus: Castanea

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 1 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Low
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -20 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 180 min.
Precipitation: 35–50 in/yr
pH range: 5–7.5
Root depth: 36 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 50 ft
Height @ 20 y: 25 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Porous
Porosity (winter): Moderate
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Mid Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 75
Propagation: seed, cuttings, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Fuelwood: High
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 1 I ▾

Washington 44009

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CAMO83 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5333237 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z