Trees to 25 m tall. Branches glabrous. Petiole rarely longer than 1 cm, leaf blade lanceolate to rarely oblong, 8-18 × 2-4 cm, thickly papery, abaxially gray and with a thick layer of waxy scalelike trichomes, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate and decurrent on petiole, margin entire, apex obtuse, subrounded, or rarely acute; secondary veins 9-14 on each side of midvein, adaxially sometimes slightly impressed, not fusing; tertiary veins abaxially not visible. Male inflorescences solitary in axils of leaves or in a panicle; rachis scurfy. Female inflorescences with cupules in clusters of 2 or 3, rarely solitary; base of cupule clusters narrowed, stalklike, to 5 mm. Infructescence rachis to 1 cm thick, sparsely lenticellate. Cupule discoid, 2-5 mm × 1-2 cm, covering base of nut, wall 0.2-0.5 mm thick; basal bracts united into concentric rings, small, tawny puberulent. Nut broadly conical, 1.2-1.5 × 1.6-2 cm, tawny puberulent, wall ca. 0.5 mm thick; scar 4-6 mm in diam., concave. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Aug-Oct of following year.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests in valleys; 200-900(-1500) m. SW Guangdong, SW Guangxi, Hainan, SE Yunnan [N Vietnam]