小箱柯 xiao xiang ke

Quercus arcaula Buchanan-Hamilton ex Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 3: 857. 1826.

Trees to 30 m tall, glabrous except for inflorescences. Branchlets dark purplish brown. Petiole ca. 1.5 cm, base thickened; leaf blade ovate-elliptic to oblong, 10-20 × 5-8 cm, papery, concolorous, without scalelike glands, margin entire, apex shortly acuminate; secondary veins 12-15 on each side of midvein, abruptly curving apically near margin but not fusing; tertiary veins abaxially reticulate. Male inflorescences in a panicle or sometimes solitary, 15-30 cm. Female and androgynous inflorescences 25-40 cm; rachis pubescent; cupules in clusters of (3-)5-7. Infructescences 20-40 cm; rachis base 8-18 mm thick, sparsely lenticellate. Cupule plate-shaped, 5-8 mm × 1.5-2 cm, wall ± woody; bracts imbricate or sometimes basal ones connate into concentric rings, sometimes triangular, appressed, obscure. Nut depressed conical, 1.4-2 × 1.5-2 cm, glabrous, ± white farinose, wall thin; scar 8-10 mm in diam., concave. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Sep-Oct of following year.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests; 1100-2300 m. Xizang (Nyalam Xian, Mêdog Xian), Yunnan (Tengchong Xian) [Nepal]