Trees or shrubs to 15 m tall. evergreen. Young branchlets densely yellowish grayish brown stellate tomentose, somewhat glabrescent but with a persistent brown indumentum. Petiole 2-4 mm, densely yellowish grayish brown stellate tomentose, glabrescent; leaf blade oblong to obovate-elliptic, (2.5-)3-5(-8) × 1.2-2.5(-4.5) cm, when young densely with pale grayish brown non-glandular fascicled hairs and fascicled hairs on short stalks, abaxially with pale grayish brown fascicled hairs, adaxially glabrescent but base of fascicled hairs remaining evident (under a hand lens), base rounded to shallowly cordate, margin entire or with spiniform teeth, apex obtuse; secondary veins 6-10 on each side of midvein; tertiary veins abaxially obscure under thick indumentum. Infructescence ca. 1 cm, rachis densely pale grayish brown tomentose, glabrescent. Cupule cupular, 5-8 × 7-15 mm, enclosing ca. 1/2 of nut; bracts triangular, ca. 1 mm, crowded, gray tomentose. Nut ovoid, 1.2-1.8 × 0.8-1.1 cm, glabrous; scar 4-5 mm in diam., raised; stylopodium ca. 1 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct.

Quercus muliensis Hu (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 1: 147. 1951), from Sichuan (Muli Zangzi Zizhixian), is probably a hybrid between Q. senescens and Q. monimotricha. It has also been treated as Q. senescens var. muliensis (Hu) Y. C. Hsu & H. W. Jen (J. Beijing Forest. Univ. 15(4): 44. 1993). Quercus muliensis has the growth habit and leaf dimensions characteristic of Q. monimotricha but the leaf and branchlet indumentum characteristic of Q. senescens.

* 1900-3300 m. Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan