Trees 10-15 m tall or shrubs 1-4 m tall; young branchlets, petioles, and rachis of inflorescences densely with tawny to rust-colored, ± coarse long hairs. Branches with large and conspicuous bud scars. Petiole 1-3.5 cm; leaf blade 4-22 × 2-10 cm, leathery to thickly papery, concolorous, base subrounded, margin dentate to undulate near apex or entire, apex acute, shortly caudate, or rarely shortly acuminate; secondary veins 22-35 on each side of midvein, abaxially pilose, abruptly curving apically, fusing near margin; tertiary veins abaxially conspicuous, subparallel, pilose. Male inflorescences spicate, solitary in axils of leaves or clustered at apex of branchlets; rachis stout. Female flowers usually borne on base of male inflorescence rachis, in clusters of ca. 3 or sometimes solitary. Infructescence with 1-4 developed cupules. Cupule cupular to subglobose, 2-3.5 × 3.5-5 cm, enclosing more than 1/2 of nut, outside puberulent and scurfy or rarely glabrescent, wall 2-5 mm thick; bracts narrowly oblong to lanceolate when young, rhomboid to multilateral with age. Nut subglobose, densely covered with appressed minute hairs, apex rounded, flat, or rarely concave, wall 4-8 mm thick; scar covering more than 1/2 of nut, convex. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Oct-Dec of following year.

* Broad-leaved evergreen forests or in association with Castanopsis and Cyclobalanopsis or Pinus massoniana, dry, hilly areas; 200-1000 m. Fujian, N to NE Guangdong, Guangxi.