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Castanea mollissima Blume
Chinese Chestnut
Not native to Florida
Native to Asia, Chinese chestnut trees have been reported in Calhoun and Columbia Counties of Florida. They can also be found in much of the eastern United States and along the west coast.
This deciduous tree typically grows to 20m (66 ft.) tall with a broad crown. The simple leaves are alternate with toothed margins and are 10–22cm (4 to 8-1/2 in) long and 4.5–8cm (1-3/4 to 3-1/4 in.) wide. The inflorescence is a 4–20cm (1-1/2 to 7-3/4 in.) long catkin with the female flowers near the base and the male flowers along the remainder of its length. The fruit is a densely spiny capsule 4–8cm (1-1/2 to 3-1/4 in.) in diameter and each containing two or three glossy brown nuts.
The Chinese chestnut was introduced in the United States in the late 1800's as orchard trees. This also brought the chestnut blight fungus which the Chinese and Japanese chestnuts had some immunity to, but the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) had none. Within 30 years of the introduction of the blight, there were practically no living American chestnuts remaining in its native range. Recent programs have been undertaken to cross-breed Chinese and American chestnuts to create blight-resistant trees with most of the characteristics of American chestnuts and reintroduce these hybrids into the wild.
Castanea mollissima is a member of the Fagaceae - Beech family.
Other species of the Castanea genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Castanea dentata - AMERICAN CHESTNUT
Castanea pumila - CHINQUAPIN
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Sep 26, 2026
