白穗柯 bai sui ke

Trees to 20 m tall; young branchlets, leaf blades abaxially, and rachis of female inflorescences covered with tawny to grayish, waxy scalelike trichomes. Petiole 1-2.5 cm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-elliptic, 12-19 × 4-7 cm, leathery, adaxially oily when young and dry, base acute to broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acuminate; secondary veins 8-12 on each side of midvein, adaxially impressed; tertiary veins abaxially inconspicuous to very slender. Male inflorescences axillary or rarely paniculate, to 15 cm. Female or androgynous inflorescences to 30 cm; cupules in clusters of 5-7. Cupule globose to slightly depressed, 1.5-2 cm in diam., completely enclosing nut, apically with a short, convex nipple, wall 0.5-1 mm thick; bracts imbricate, triangular, subulate, appressed, with tawny, lamellate, waxy scalelike trichomes. Nut subglobose, 1.3-1.8 cm, 1.3-1.8 cm in diam., sparsely covered with appressed minute hairs especially at apex, wall ca. 0.5 mm thick; scar covering ca. 1/3 of nut, convex. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Aug-Sep of following year.

Mixed mesophytic forests, usually on dry slopes; 1500-2700 m. SW Sichuan, S to SW Yunnan [Laos, N Thailand]

Possibly conspecific with the Vietnamese Lithocarpus ollus (Kurz) A. Camus, which name has priority but is based on a fruiting specimen only. More material is needed to confirm this synonymy.