Flowering tree of Castanopsis delavayi
Despite a spectacular bloom with sprays of gold-coloured flowers in the spring, this relative of oak trees remains largely unknown in cultivation.
Delavay’s chinquapin is native to four provinces in southern China, where it is an arboreal constituent of the region’s mixed and broad-leaved evergreen forests. Introduced into Western cultivation in 1924 via George Forrest, my cursory searches for Castanopsis delavayi suggests it is present in only a small number of public and private collections. These include: JC Raulston Arboretum (Raleigh, North Carolina), Cornwall’s Caerhays Estate (at least according to Trees and Shrubs Online), the Mereweather Arboretum in Dunkeld, Australia, and the site of today’s photograph, Savannah’s Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Two plants grown from wild-collected seed were attempted at UBC Botanical Garden in the late 1990s, but both were recorded as dead as of 2001. I’ve advocated in the past that we should make another attempt, assuming we can source wild-collected material.
Fortunately, I did find one resource with close-up photographs of the flowers and oak-like fruits (I didn’t take any additional photographs, as I didn’t know I would probably never encounter it again and I was leading a tour). For your weekend browsing, visit Gardening in the Coastal Southeast by self-described obsessive gardener (and longtime horticulturist) Chuck Hubbuch (and on Instagram). The site is deep in content, with copious notes by Chuck on the plants in his plant lists, garden articles, and his travels. Even if you don’t garden in that part of the world, there’ll be something to learn, including Chuck’s observations and photographs of Castanopsis.
I would love to see this tree in person. Fabulous and very fluffy!
This resurgence of almost-every-day BPOD posts could not be better timed to help us weather
this miserable stay-at-home ordeal. Thank you so much for the mental health boost
Fascinating species. Thanks for all the links.
I have been a subscriber to the Botany Photo of the Day since before 2010. One addition, I would like to see to the material presented is information relating to climate zone in which the plants that are featured can grow. I live in Ottawa, Canada which is
maybe Z5b and am always looking to expand the types of plants I can successfully grow here. Love what you’re doing. Keep up the great work.
Hi Rob,
It’d be great if someone from the community stepped forward and did that (someone used to do that). Otherwise, we address why we don’t do it that often in Frequently Asked Questions.
Thanks for brightening our days Daniel.
I will make a point to try and locate Castanopsis delavayi when I next visit Caerhays. I guess if there is only one in the UK it must be a champion tree here.
J.C. Williams of Caerhays sponsored George Forrest to collect in China and Tibet so the Caerhays tree must have come from material received in Cornwall nearly a hundred years ago.
Does the bloom smell as bad as the small chinquapins we had on our place
near Sperryville, VA? It might be the reason it has not become popular in gardens.
Chuck Hubbuch describes it as “The flower scent is musky, similar to some of the less pleasant viburnums.” Despite that, one would think it would be grown as a specimen tree in more arboreta.