红心柯 hong xin ke

Quercus carolineae Skan in Dunn, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 35: 518. 1903; Pasania carolineae (Skan) Schottky; Synaedrys carolineae (Skan) Koidzumi.

Trees to 20 m tall, glabrous except for inflorescences and leaf blade vein axils. Branchlets of current year sulcate, dark brown when dry. Petiole 1.5-2 cm; leaf blade oblong to rarely obovate-oblong, 13-18 × 4-6 cm, thickly papery, concolorous, dark brown when dry, with tuft of stellate hairs on axils of veins, base cuneate, margin serrate from middle to apex, apex shortly caudate; secondary veins 15-20 on each side of midvein, ending in teeth or abruptly curving apically near margin and gradually obscured. Infructescence with cupules in clusters of 3-5. Cupule plate-shaped, 1-1.5 × 3-4 cm, enclosing ca. 1/2 of nut, dark brown when dry, basally with a short stalk; bracts imbricate, broadly triangular, appressed, base rhomboid, midvein thickened. Nut depressed globose, 2.4-3 × 4-4.5 cm, ± glossy, apex flat with a ± concave center, wall 6-10 mm thick; scar 2.5-3 cm in diam., margin concave but center ± convex. Fr. Sep-Oct.

* Mixed mesophytic forests; 1500-2000 m. S to SE Yunnan