Castanea pumila, chinquapin
Sullivan, Janet. 1994. Castanea pumila, chinquapin. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/caspum
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| CASPUM | chinquapin | Castanea pumila | Life Form: Plants/Shrub, Plants/Tree Kingdom: Plantae Class: Dicot Order: Fagales Family: Fagaceae Genus: Castanea | Fed. Protected: No Nativity: Native Invasiveness: Noninvasive |
Taxonomy
The scientific name of chinquapin is Castanea pumila (L.) Mill. (Fagaceae) [4,8,16]. Varieties are [10,13,34]:
- Castanea pumila var. ozarkensis (Ashe) Tucker, Ozark chinquapin
- Castanea pumila var. pumila, chinquapin, typical variety
Chinquapin and American chestnut (Castanea dentata) hybridize, forming C. x neglecta Dode [16].
Synonyms
For Castanea pumila var. ozarkensis:
- Castanea alabamensis Ashe [4]
- Castanea ozarkensis Ashe
- Castanea ozarkensis var. arkansana Ashe [13]
For Castanea pumila var. pumila:
- Castanea alnifolia Nutt.
- Castanea alnifolia var. floridana Sarg. [8]
- Castanea ashei Sudw. [8,16]
- Castanea floridana (Sarg.) Ashe [8]
- Castanea pumila var. ashei Sudw. [13,22]
Other Common Names
Allegheny chinquapin, coastal chinquapin, Ozark chinquapin, chinkapin
General Distribution
The range of chinquapin extends from New Jersey and Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, and southern Ohio [4,16]. Ozark chinquapin is limited to the Ozark highlands of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, and has been extirpated from most of Alabama by chestnut blight [10].
Overall distribution of chinquapin (top), and distributions of the typical variety (bottom left) and Ozark chinquapin (bottom right).
States
- United States: AL AR DE GA FL KY LA MD MS MO NJ NC OH OK PA SC TN TX VA WV
Site Characteristics
Chinquapin occurs in xeric to mesic, thin or open mixed woods on dry, rocky, sandy, or loamy soils [4]. It is typically found on well-drained stream terraces, dry pinelands and sandhills, and disturbed sites such as railroad rights-of-way, powerline clearings, fence and hedgerows, pine plantations, and old fields [4,8,10,35]. Ozark chinquapin is typically found on dry uplands in deciduous or mixed woodlands, but also on cliff margins, talus slopes, and rocky ridges. Chinquapin grows well on almost all soil textures except heavy clay soils [9].
Chinquapin ranges in elevation from sea level to about 4,455 (1350 m) in the southern Appalachians [4].
Plant Communities
Chinquapin is locally abundant as a low, clonal shrub on longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)-scrub oak (Quercus spp.) sand ridges and hills that are burned frequently, and in open stands of planted pine on ridges and hills. It is less frequent in sand pine (P. clausa)-oak scrub [8]. Ozark chinquapin is often associated with chinquapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) in white oak (Q. alba)-black oak (Q. velutina)-northern red oak (Q. rubra) cover types [26].
Botanical Description
Chinquapin in its large shrub or tree form, Beaufort County, South Carolina. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Chinquapin is a native, deciduous, rhizomatous large shrub or small tree [8]. Mature heights range from 6 to 65 feet (2-20 m) [4,7,8,32,35]. The bark of trunks is smooth with shallow furrows [35]. The stems of young shoots are pubescent to densely tomentose. The flowers are axillary catkins [8]. The involucre is a spiny bur 1 to 1.4 inches (2.5-3.5 cm) long, containing a nut which is 0.28 to 0.8 inch (7-20 mm) long [28].
Raunkiaer Life Form (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Phanerophyte
Seasonal Development
Chinquapin flowers from April to July, depending on latitude [4]. The ripened nuts are available from September through November [31].
Regeneration Processes
Chinquapin reproduces readily from seed. It is monoecious, self-incompatible, and wind pollinated [8,10]. Chinquapin cultivar 'golden' seedlings may produce nuts as early as the second or third growing season. Nut crops are not large until the fourth or fifth year. Six-year-old plants produced 1,200 to 1,500 nuts per plant. Seeds planted in the fall show good germination (> 90%); seeds stored over the winter tend to dry out and germinate at much reduced rates (< 50%) [9].
Chinquapin flowers. (CC BY-NC 3.0 US)
Chinquapin fruits. (CC BY-NC 3.0 US)
Chinquapin sprouts vigorously from the stump after top-kill [28]. It spreads from the rhizomes, forming thickets or colonies [8].
Successional Status
Chinquapin is not highly shade tolerant, and occurs in open woods and disturbed areas [8]. It is not competitive where overstory trees begin to form a closed canopy; it is easily replaced by more shade-tolerant species [10]. In Florida, it is a member of the mid-successional pine (Pinus spp.)-oak (Quercus spp.)-hickory (Carya spp.) type. It is also a member of communities that remain seral because of disturbances such as fire [15].
Immediate Fire Effects
Chinquapin is probably easily top-killed by most fires. Chinquapin was a member of the understory of a cut-over pine-hardwood stand that was prescribed burned to control hardwoods. While no specific figures on chinquapin mortality were given, the author stated that two fires top-killed 90 percent of the hardwood stems under 1 inch (2.54 cm) in diameter, and set back hardwood succession. Larger stems (1 to 5 inches in diameter [2.54-12 cm]) experienced much lower mortality: 27 to 36 percent top-kill [27].
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
- Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil
- Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
Fire Adaptations
Chinquapin in its low, clonal shrub form in front of a previously burned pine stand, Duval County, Florida. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Chinquapin forms extensive clones where it has been burned annually or at short intervals. It occurs in burned-over longleaf pine-oak scrub and sand pine-oak scrub, and other disturbed sites [8]. Fire benefits chinquapin by removing or reducing shade-tolerant competitors and opening the overstory [10].
Plant Response to Fire
Chinquapin sprouts vigorously following top-kill by fire [12].
Fire Regimes
The bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia) type is a disturbance-maintained type in which chinquapin is listed as an associate. It is restricted to poor, dry sites which have been disturbed in the recent past mainly by heavy cutting, fire, or both. It is favored by disturbance at frequent but not necessarily regular intervals [5].
For fire regime information, search FEIS for this species by entering the species name on the Advanced Search page and selecting “Fire Regime” as the publication type.
Fire Management Considerations
No entry.
Federal Status
No special status.
Other Status
No entry.
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
Chinquapin nuts are excellent wildlife food and are consumed by squirrels, chipmunks, opossums, white-tailed deer, blue jays, pileated woodpeckers [31], red-headed woodpeckers [34], and many other birds [4,31]. Chinquapin is usually not a primary wildlife food due to its scattered occurrence [35]. It is, however, listed as an important species in the diet of southeastern fox squirrels (including five subspecies) [17]. White-tailed deer browse the foliage of chinquapin [34].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
In North Carolina, chinquapin had a high utilization rate (81% browsed) by white-tailed deer, even though it occurred in relatively low abundance [36].
Chestnut (Castanea spp.) meats were reported to contain 2.9 percent protein (fresh weight), 41 percent N-free extract, and 1.1 percent crude fiber [20].
Cover Value
No entry.
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
Chinquapin (cultivar 'golden') has good potential for use in revegetation of disturbed sites, particularly because of its wildlife value and adaptability to harsh sites [9,10]. It is likely that many planners hesitate to use it because of the threat of chestnut blight infection.
Other Uses
Chinquapin nuts are sweet and palatable, considered better tasting than those of American chestnut (Castanea dentata), and have been bartered and sold commercially [28]. Chinquapin may be of value for breeding blight-resistant chestnuts with good-tasting nuts [10].
Chinquapin wood is light, hard, close-grained, and durable. It is used largely for fenceposts and fuel. It is not exploited for commercial timber because of its small stature and scattered occurrence [32,35].
Other Management Considerations
Chinquapin has been variously reported as very susceptible to chestnut blight [34], moderately resistant to chestnut blight [28], and almost completely resistant to chestnut blight [35]. The disease has been blamed for the extirpation of chinquapin from most of Alabama, and as having severely reduced populations in the Ozarks. It is considered a threat to chinquapin in Texas [28]. Campbell and others [3] placed chinquapin on a list of species which are rare in Appalachian Kentucky, because there are fewer than 10 records of chinquapin for the region. They speculated that chinquapin has decreased in abundance because of fire suppression and chestnut blight [3]. Roedner and others [24] included Ozark chinquapin in a checklist of rare plants of the Ozark Plateau, Missouri, and reported it as endangered due to chestnut blight. It has been considered for inclusion in the Federal Register [19].
Chinquapin is a host to oak wilt [25].
In central Louisiana, an all-aged loblolly pine (Pinus taeda)-shortleaf pine (P. echinata) stand was selectively harvested in 1958 for pines, and in 1959 and early 1960 for hardwoods. The stand had not experienced any fires since the early 1940's. Chinquapin was listed with a group of species whose importance value increased after overstory removal, from 1960 to 1970 [2].
Chinquapin is listed as susceptible to the following herbicides: 2,4,5-T, bromacil, dicamba, picloram, and silvex. It may resprout after herbicide treatment [1].
Table A1— Forest and range ecosystems, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) physiographic regions, Kuchler plant associations, Society for American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types, and Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) rangeland cover types in which this species occurs.
Forest and Range Ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977)
- FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
- FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
- FRES14 Oak - pine
- FRES15 Oak - hickory
BLM Physiographic Regions (Bernard and Brown 1977)
- No entry
Kuchler Plant Associations (Kuchler 1964)
- K100 Oak - hickory forest
- K104 Appalachian oak forest
- K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
- K112 Southern mixed forest
- K115 Sand pine scrub
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 43 Bear oak
- 52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
- 69 Sand pine
- 70 Longleaf pine
- 71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
- 72 Southern scrub oak
- 75 Shortleaf pine
- 80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
- 81 Loblolly pine
- 82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
- 83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
- 84 Slash pine
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry
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