Castanopsis chengfengensis Hu; Quercus franchetiana H. Léveillé ex A. Camus.

Trees. Young shoots black to black-brown when dry, glabrous. Petiole 1.5-3 cm; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, ovate, oblong, or obovate-elliptic, 15-30 × 5-10(-13) cm, leathery, dark purple-brown when young, abaxially thinly covered with reddish brown to yellowish brown, waxy scalelike trichomes, base rounded to shortly cuneate and symmetric or sometimes inaequilateral, margin serrate except basally entire, apex acuminate, mucronate, or caudate; midvein adaxially impressed; secondary veins 15-18 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescences 5-25 cm; rachis 4-6 mm thick. Cupule globose, 6-8 cm in diam., splitting into 4(or 5) regular segments, wall 3-4 mm thick; bracts spinelike, entirely covering cupule, 1.5-2.5 cm, subglabrous to sparsely puberulent, base usually connate into bundles. Nut 1 per cupule, ± conical, 1.5-1.8 × 2-2.8 cm, hairy; scar covering ca. 1/4 of nut. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Aug-Oct of following year.

* Broad-leaved evergreen forests; below 1500 m. S Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, SW Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, SE Yunnan, S Zhejiang