Vasilis Teodoridis:
Fagaceae | Castanopsis
2. Castanopsis fissa (Champion ex Bentham) Rehder & E. H. Wilson in Sargent; Pl. Wilson. 3: 203. 1916.
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Quercus fissa Champion ex Bentham; Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 6: 114. 1854; Castanopsis fissoides Chun & C. C. Huang ex Luong; C. tunkinensis (Drake) Barnett (1944); not C. tonkinensis Seemen (1897); Lithocarpus fissus (Champion ex Bentham) A. Camus; Pasania fissa (Champion ex Bentham) Oersted; Q. tunkinensis Drake; Shiia fissa (Champion ex Bentham) Kudo; Synaedrys fissa (Champion ex Bentham) Koidzumi.
Trees; bud scales; shoot apexes; and young leaf blades abaxially yellowish brown puberulent and covered with rust-colored; small; lamellate; slightly adnate; waxy scalelike trichomes. Branchlets red-purple; prominently angular. Leaves spirally arranged; yellowish brown to gray; petiole 1-2.5 cm; leaf blade oblong to obovate-elliptic; very variable in sizes; often 15-25 x 5-9 cm; thickly papery; base cuneate; margin from base to middle undulate and crenate; apex acute; acuminate; or rounded; midvein raised adaxially; secondary veins 20-28 on each side of midvein or rarely fewer. Infructescence 8-18 cm; rachis glabrous. Cupule 1-1.5 cm in diameter; irregularly 2- or 3(or 4)-valved with valves often curled; covered with dark reddish brown mealy waxy scalelike trichomes; apex slightly cuspidate; wall 0.5-1 mm thick; bracts scalelike; triangular to squarish; imbricate when young but mostly united and in ring ribs with age. Nut globose to elliptic; 1.3-1.8 x 1.1-1.6 cm; apically brown-red tomentose; scar basal; 4-7 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-Jun; fr. Oct-Dec.
Broad-leaved evergreen forests; below 1600 m. S Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; S Guizhou; Hainan; S Hunan; S Jiangxi; SE Yunnan [N Thailand; N Vietnam]
Cupule shape of this species ranges from ellipsoid to ovoid and correlates with the distribution. Ellipsoid cupules occur in Fujian; E Guangdong; Jiangxi; and Hunan; while ovoid cupules occur in more western regions such as SE Yunnan and neighboring regions; including W Hainan and NE Vietnam.