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Chrysolepis

Family

Fagaceae

The species described below is better known as Castanopsis chrysophylla, but in a recent study (Bot. Notiser, Suppl. 2, p. 117, 1948) Hjelmqvist has pointed out that it is really as out-of-place in Castanopsis as it is in Castanea, in which genus Hooker first described it. He has accordingly created for it a new genus – Chrysolepis. Mr L. Forman of the Kew Herbarium, who has made a special study of the group, concurs. He tells us that the salient points which justify treating Castanopsis chrysophylla as a distinct genus are: 1. Each bur contains three nuts and is composed of seven spiny cupule-valves, five outside and around the nuts and two inside between the nuts and separating them from each other. 2. The cupule-valves are free from one another right from the start. 3. The fruits are triangular in section. The genus is further distinguished from Castanopsis by the female flowers being borne on the same catkins as the males, as in Castanea; in Castanopsis the spikes are unisexual.

Species articles