Carpinus austrosinensis Hu; C. kweitingensis Hu; C. kweiyangensis Hu; C. lancilimba Hu; C. marlipoensis Hu; C. parva Hu; C. pilosinucula Hu; C. pinfaensis Hu; C. pingpienensis Hu; C. seemeniana Diels; C. tsiangiana Hu; C. tsoongiana Hu; C. tungtzeensis Hu; C. wangii Hu & W. C. Cheng.

Trees to 17 m tall; bark brown-gray. Branchlets dark brown, sparsely villous or glabrescent. Petiole 4-15 mm, sparsely pubescent or subglabrous; leaf blade oblong, oblong-lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or ovate-elliptic, rarely ovate or elliptic, 5-10 × 2-3.5 cm, abaxially sparsely villous along veins, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially glabrous, base subrounded-cuneate, subrounded, or subcordate, sometimes unequal, margin regularly and doubly minutely serrate, apex acuminate, rarely acute; lateral veins 12-14 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescence 5-7 × 1-2.5 cm; peduncle 2-3 cm, sparsely villous or glabrous; bracts semiovate, rarely broadly semiovate, 1-2.5 cm, sparsely villous along veins, outer margin irregularly dentate, without basal lobe, inner margin entire, straight, or subfalcate, with inflexed basal auricle, apex obtuse or acute; veins 5, reticulate veins prominent. Nutlet broadly ovoid, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, densely pubescent, rarely glabrescent, villous at apex, sparsely resinous glandular, prominently ribbed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep.

The shape, size, and pubescence of the leaves and bracts is variable. The plants from Guizhou that were described as separate species by Hu appear to represent variants or abnormal suites of specimens, rather than distinct taxa.

Forests in valleys, thickets on mountain summits, on limestone; 450-2000 m. Guizhou, Shaanxi, S Sichuan, E Yunnan (Mile Xian) [N Vietnam]