Castanea bungeana Blume; C. duclouxii Dode; C. fargesii Dode; C. formosana (Hayata) Hayata; C. hupehensis Dode; C. mollissima var. pendula X. Y. Zhou & Z. D. Zhou; C. sativa Miller var. formosana Hayata; C. sativa var. mollissima (Blume) Pampanini; C. vulgaris Lamarck var. yunnanensis Franchet.

Trees to 20 m tall. Branchlets with short pubescence, often also with long spreading hairs. Petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 10-17 cm or rarely shorter, at least along veins abaxially tomentose to softly pubescent, adaxially scalelike glands sometimes absent, base rounded to truncate, margin coarsely serrate, apex acute to acuminate. Male inflorescences 10-20 cm. Cupule densely covered with pubescent spinelike bracts. Nuts usually 2 or 3 per cupule, 2-3 cm in diam. or rarely narrower. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Aug-Oct.

Extensively cultivated for its edible nuts. Most collections are impossible to determine if they are cultivated, escaped, or native.

Cultivated or wild particularly on mountain slopes; near sea level to 2800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Korea]