Trees 5-10 m tall. Branchlets of current year sulcate. Petiole 1-2.5 cm; leaf blade ovate-elliptic to oblong, 9-16 × 3-5 cm, leathery, abaxially with adherent, waxy scalelike trichomes, base attenuate and decurrent on petiole, margin entire, apex acuminate; secondary veins 7-10 on each side of midvein, abruptly curving apically, obscure near margin; tertiary veins abaxially slender, evident, laxly spaced. Male inflorescences solitary in a paniculate cluster; rachis with lamellate waxy scalelike trichomes. Female and androgynous inflorescences with cupules in clusters of 3-5 scattered on rachis. Infructescences 7-10 cm; rachis 4-5 mm thick. Cupule subglobose or turbinate, 2-2.5 cm in diam., enclosing 2/3 to most of nut, apically flat, wall ca. 1.5 mm thick at middle; basal bracts fused to wall and reduced to scars, apically triangular, appressed, and covered with tawny or grayish brown, minute, waxy scalelike trichomes. Nut turbinate, sparsely puberulent or glabrous, apex slightly concave, ± flat, or arcuate-convex; scar covering 1/2-3/4 of nut, convex. Fl. Jun-Oct, fr. summer to winter of following year.

* Broad-leaved evergreen forests, mixed mesophytic forests; 1000-2400 m. Anhui, Fujian, N Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, NE Yunnan, Zhejiang.