Castanopsis tribuloides Smith var. longispina King ex J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 5: 623. 1888; C. ferox Spach var. longispina (King ex J. D. Hooker) A. Camus.

Trees. Young shoots purple-brown, slightly angulate, tufted puberulent, glabrescent. Petiole 1-1.5 cm; leaf blade oblong to obovate-oblong, 14-24 × 5-8 cm, 1st-year leaf blades papery and abaxially covered with very small stellate cespitose hairs along midvein, base acute to rounded, margin entire, apex shortly acuminate; secondary veins 12-16 on each side of midvein, adaxially ± impressed. Infructescence rachis 4-5 mm thick. Cupule wall ca. 1 mm thick; bracts spinelike, congested, almost completely covering cupule, 1.3-1.5 cm, stiff, free or a few in bundles, puberulent. Nut ellipsoid, 2-3 × ca. 1 cm, glabrescent; scar ca. 8 mm in diam.

In India, the species grows at elevations from 200-1200 m.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests; 800-900 m. SE Xizang (Mêdog Xian) [Bangladesh, NE India, Myanmar, Sikkim]