Lithocarpus

Lithocarpus
Lithocarpus edulis, Kantō region, Japan
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Fagaceae
Genus:	Lithocarpus Blume
Species
See text.

Lithocarpus is a genus in the beech family Fagaceae, differing from Quercus in the erect male spikes. The Kew Checklist (see link below) accepts 334 species, though some other texts suggest as low as 100 species. About 100 Asian species of the genus were formerly treated in the genus Pasania. All but one are native to east and southeast Asia; the single exception, L. densiflorus, Tanoak, being native to western North America in southwest Oregon and California. The Asian species do not have a well-known English vernacular name, though the generic term stone oak has been proposed.

Although normally included in Lithocarpus, recent genetic evidence (Int. J. Plant Sci. 162(6): 1361–1379. 2001; pdf file) suggests that the North American species is only distantly related to Asian species; it may be better transferred to a genus of its own.

They are evergreen trees with leathery, alternate leaves, which may be either entire or toothed. The seed is a nut very similar to an oak acorn, but with a very hard, woody nut shell (hence the genus name, from Greek lithos, stone, + carpos, seed). The nut kernel is edible in some species (e.g. Lithocarpus edulis), but inedible, and very bitter, in others (e.g. L. densiflorus).

Several of the species are very attractive ornamental trees, used in parks and large gardens in warm temperate and subtropical areas.

Selected species

• Lithocarpus burkillii
• Lithocarpus cleistocarpus
• Lithocarpus crassinervius
• Lithocarpus curtisii
• Lithocarpus densiflorus - Tanoak
• Lithocarpus dodonaeifolius
• Lithocarpus edulis - Japanese Stone Oak
• Lithocarpus erythrocarpus
• Lithocarpus formosanus
• Lithocarpus glaber
• Lithocarpus hancei - Hance's Tanbark
• Lithocarpus hendersonianus
• Lithocarpus henryi - Henry's Stone Oak
• Lithocarpus indutus
• Lithocarpus kingianus
• Lithocarpus kingii
• Lithocarpus kostermansii
• Lithocarpus kunstleri
• Lithocarpus maingayi
• Lithocarpus neorobinsonii
• Lithocarpus ovalis
• Lithocarpus pachyphyllus
• Lithocarpus platycarpus

External links

A full list of the species and their synonyms can be seen by entering Lithocarpus in the search box in the Kew Checklists. The Flora of China Online includes descriptions of the 123 Chinese species.