ກໍ່ເດືອຍ / Chestnut

This light-demanding, evergreen tree has a thick crown up to 20-25 m high, is 1 m in DBH, and is covered with a deep-grooved dark-brown outer bark. The leaves are thick and papery with a jagged edge. They are 10 cm-25 x 5-8 cm in size and grow in groups of 14-20 pairs. Young leaves are hairy and red-purple. Female inflorescences are a dull light-green to pale-yellow, and 40 cm long; male inflorescences are light-green. Infructescences are dense, 15-30 cm long, with round fruit and a spiny shell, covered with spines up to 1.5 cm long, straight or bent in bundles. The fruit is 0.6-1.3 x 1.5-1.8 cm, and generally splits into four segments when mature. There is one brown-yellow nut per fruit, 0.5 cm in diameter, and very hairy. The taxonomy of Fagaceae in Southeast Asia is not yet clear.