''Chrysolepis'' is a small genus of plants in the family

Fagaceae The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergre ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the western United States. Its two species have the common name chinquapin. The genus occurs from western

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

south to the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa B ...

in Southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and east into

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Description

''Chrysolepis'' are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s with simple, entire (untoothed)

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

with a dense layer of golden scales on the underside and a thinner layer on the upper side; the leaves persist for 3–4 years before falling. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a densely spiny

cupule A cupule is a small structure shaped like a cup, including: * In archeology, rock cupules are circular man-made hollows on the surface of a large rock or a rock slab ** On a smaller artifact they are called a cupstone. * In botany: the base of an ...

containing 1–3 sweet, edible nuts, eaten by the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. The fruit also provides food for chipmunks and squirrels. ''Chrysolepis'' is related to the subtropical southeast

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n genus ''

Castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total o ...

'' (in which it was formerly included), but differs in the nuts being triangular and fully enclosed in a sectioned cupule, and in having bisexual

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

s. ''Chrysolepis'' also differs from another allied genus ''Castanea'' (chestnuts), in nuts that take 14–16 months to mature (3–5 months in ''Castanea''), evergreen leaves and the shoots having a terminal bud.

Species

There are two

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of ''Chrysolepis'' — ''Chrysolepis chrysophylla'' and ''Chrysolepis sempervirens'' — which like many species in the related genera of ''

'' and ''

Castanea The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nut (fruit), nuts they produce. Th ...

'' are called chinquapin, also spelled "chinkapin".

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment: Genus ''Chrysolepis'' Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Chrysolepis chrysophylla'' Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Chrysolepis sempervirens''

USDA Plants Profile: ''Chrysolepis''Flora of North America - ''Chrysolepis''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q137054 Fagaceae Edible nuts and seeds Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of California ~ Bird food plants Plants used in Native American cuisine Fagales genera