ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecol-ogy, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Castanea Mollissima Blume. Nut unexcelled in sweetness and general palatability by any other known chestnut. Reported to be hemostat, Chinese chestnut is a folk remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, epistaxis, nausea, and thirst. Reported from the China-Japan Center of Diversity, Chinese chestnut, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate disease, frost, and slope. Many cvs have been introduced from China, and several hybrids with Japanese and American chestnuts have been produced in attempts to breed-in blight-resistance. Most of grafted Chinese chestnuts have shown troublesome stock-scion incompatibility, which causes grafts to fail. Such failures may occur in the first year, but more often after 4 to 6 years of vigorous growth. Chinese chestnut requires much the same conditions of climate, soil, and soil moisture as does peach.
