Korean castanea
Castanea crenata · Fagaceae · 밤나무
How to spot it
Compared with the similar yak-bamnamu, leaves are smaller, nuts are larger and broad at the base. Wavy teeth with needle-like tips at the ends of the side veins are characteristic.
(original photo, new tab)Leaf · Photo KENPEI · CC BY-SA 3.0
Look
- Leaves
- Leaves are elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 10-20 cm long, with wavy teeth; 17-25 pairs of parallel side veins end in needle-like tips, and gland dots are dense.
- Flowers
- White flowers bloom in June, many on erect catkins in the leaf axils at the base of new shoots.
- Fruit
- The spiny bur holds nuts, 3 or 1 per bur, 2.5-4 cm across, ripening dark brown. They mature in September-October and the bur splits open.
- Bark
- Bark is dark brown or dark gray, irregularly fissured lengthwise.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Grows throughout Korea at 100-1,100 m elevation; also found in Japan and Manchuria.
- Ecology
- A sun-loving tree suited to an annual mean temperature of 10-14 degrees C; it likes deep, well-drained, fertile mountain foot slopes, and is weak against wind-borne salt and drought.