Quercus tribuloides Smith in Rees, Cycl. 29: Quercus no. 13. 1814; Castanea tribuloides (Smith) Lindley.

Trees 5-10 m tall; young branchlets and young leaf blades abaxially pubescent and with glabrescent, rusty brown, waxy scalelike trichomes. Petiole 1-1.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 9-16 × 3.5-5 cm, abaxially reddish brown but may become gray to grayish brown with age, base acute to rounded, margin entire or rarely with 1 or 2 teeth, apex acute; midvein adaxially impressed; secondary veins 11-14 on each side of midvein, sometimes impressed. Infructescences ca. 25 cm; rachis slender. Cupules loosely arranged, globose to ellipsoid, 1.6-2.2 cm in diam., outside covered with brownish, small, lamellate, waxy scalelike trichomes, sometimes pubescent, wall to 1 mm thick; bracts spinelike, sparsely covering cupule, 3-5 mm, slender, free but a few in bundles. Nut 1 per cupule, broadly conical, 1.5-2 × 1-1.6 cm, glabrous; scar basal, 8-10 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct of following year.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests; circa 1300 m. SE Xizang (Mêdog Xian), SW Yunnan [N India, Myanmar, Nepal, N Thailand]