A small evergreen tree up to 25 ft high, or a bushy shrub; young shoots brown, clothed at first with loose starry down. Leaves leathery, oval, or slightly obovate, rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base, rounded at the apex, margins stiffly toothed on young plants, becoming largely entire on adult ones, 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄3 in. wide, dark glossy green, sprinkled beneath when young with starry down; stalk 1⁄8 in. or less long. Fruits (which ripen the first year) borne two to four together on a short, stiff stalk, acorn-cup hemispherical, enclosing about half the acorn, downy inside scales appressed, triangular, clothed with yellowish-grey down.
Native of W. Szechwan and Yunnan, China; introduced by Wilson in 1910. This oak requires rather warmer conditions than exist in places like Kew.