Quercus gambleana A. Camus, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 80: 354. 1933; Cyclobalanopsis dulongensis H. Li & Y. C. Hsu; C. nanchuanica (C. C. Huang) Y. T. Chang; C. oxyodon (Miquel) Oersted var. tomentosa Hu; Q. nanchuanica C. C. Huang.

Trees to 20 m tall. Branchlets tomentose, glabrescent, densely lenticellate; lenticels brown, raised. Petiole 3-4 cm, grayish stellate tomentose; leaf blade oblong-elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 12-20 × 2-5 cm, abaxially densely pale brown stellate tomentose, base rounded to broadly cuneate, margin serrate, apex acuminate; midvein abaxially prominent and adaxially impressed; secondary veins 16-24 on each side of midvein; tertiary veins abaxially obscure. Female inflorescences borne toward the apex of new shoots, axillary, solitary, ca. 1 cm, tomentose. Cupule cupular, ca. 1 × 1.5-1.8 cm, enclosing ca. 1/2 of nut, outside pale brown tomentose, inside pale brown sericeous, wall ca. 1 mm thick; bracts in 5-7 rings, margin denticulate. Nut ovoid to ellipsoid, ca. 2 × 1.5 cm, hairy, glabrescent; scar ca. 8 mm in diam., slightly convex. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Oct-Nov.

Mixed mesophytic forests in mountains; 1100-3000 m. Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [NE India]