闭壳柯 bi qiao ke

Trees 10-15 m tall; branches and leaf blades glabrous. Petiole 2-3 cm; leaf blade elliptic to sometimes obovate-elliptic, 18-25 × 6-8 cm, papery, concolorous or abaxially ± glaucous, base cuneate and decurrent on petiole, margin entire, apex acuminate; secondary veins 10-12 on each side of midvein; tertiary veins abaxially conspicuous. Female inflorescence with cupules in clusters of 3(-5). Infructescences to 18 cm; rachis base 7-10 mm thick, scurfy. Cupule depressed globose, 1.5-2 cm in diam., completely enclosing nut, wall ca. 2.5 mm thick; bracts imbricate, broadly triangular, appressed, grayish brown when dry. Nut slightly depressed globose, 1.2-1.6 cm in diam., glabrous, wall ca. 1 mm thick; scar slightly concave, ca. 1 cm in diam. Fr. Aug-Oct.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests by streams, at low elevations. Yunnan (Hekou Yaozu Zizhixian) [C to NE Vietnam]