Volume 9 > Part 3 > Year 2008 > Page 203 > Fagaceae > Castanopsis

11. Castanopsis echidnocarpa (Hook.f. & Thomson ex A.DC.) A.DC.

J. Bot. 1: 182. 1864; Prodr., 16.2: 112. 1864; C.C.Huang, Y.T.Chang & B.M.Bartol. in C.Y.Wu & P.H.Raven, Fl. China, 4: 330. 1999.— Castanea echidnocarpa Hook.f. & Thomson ex A.DC., Prodr. 16.2: 112. 1864.— Castanopsis tribuloides var. echidnocarpa King ex Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 623. 1888; Brandis, Indian Trees, ed 3: 635. 1906. Fig. 14.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Tree, 5–25 m high; 20–50 cm girth. Terminal buds ovoid, ca 5 by 3 mm, glabrous. Twigs first hairy then glabrescent, densely covered with round lenticels. Bark blackish, greenish, shallowly fissured; inner bark, ca 3 cm thick, yellowish or pinkish; sapwood white. Leaves lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, 9–17 by 3–4.5 cm; base obtuse, suboblique; apex cuspidate or caudate; margins entire; subcoriaceous, glabrous, glossy green on the upper surface and glaucous greenish on the lower; midrib prominent on both surfaces; lateral nerves 9–15 pairs, arched but not anastomosing, conspicuous on both surfaces, scalariform and reticulate veins finely conspicuous on both surfaces. Petiole 1–1.5 cm, pųbescent then glabrescent, blackish when dry. Inflorescences male and female separate or mixed, erect, axillary or terminal. Male inflorescence always branched, spikelets 5–8 cm long, pubescent. Male flowers whitish, simple or in 1–3-flowered cluster; bracts and bracteoles ovate oblong , pubescent outside; calyx 6, lobes obovate, free, 1.2 by 1 mm, ciliate and pubescent outside; stamens 12, ca 2 mm long, glabrous; rudimentary ovary globose, ca 1 mm in diam., hirsute. Female inflorescence spike 15–20 cm long, simple or in 1–3-flowered cluster, other characters as in male flowers; styles 3, divergent, glabrous; stigmata pointed. Fruits sessile, globose, 2.5–3 cm in diam. (including cupule), on robust erect infructescences, 14–20 cm long, always curved to one side (the top and base close together). Cupule completely enclosing the nut except the umbo; wall with woody simple and branched spines. Nuts simple, ovoid and always curved to one side, ca 1.5 by 1 cm.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai, Nan, Lampang, Lamphun; NORTH-EASTERN: Loei; EASTERN: Si Sa Ket; SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi; PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Satun, Songkhla.

Distribution : Bangladesh, Bhutan, India (Khasi – type), Nepal, Burma, China.

Ecology : Lower montane rain forests, lower montane rain pine-oak forests, dry evergreen forests, mixed deciduous and dry dipterocarp forests, near streams, 50–1,600 m (most commonly 700–1,200 m). Flowering: April–January (most commonly April–September); fruiting: March–December (most commonly August–October).

Vernacular : Ko paen (ก่อแป้น), ko dueai (ก่อเดือย), ko kaeo (ก่อแก้ว)(Northern); ko khao (ก่อข้าว)(Northeastern); ko khao (ก่อขาว), ko mu (ก่อหมู), ko nam (ก่อหนาม)(Peninsular).

Uses: Nuts edible, always mixed with Castanopsis tribuloides nuts.

E-version notes : As Castanopsis echinocarpa Miq., Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 119. 1863.