Machilus formosana Hayata, J. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo 22: 350. 1906; Phoebe sheareri (Hemsley) Gamble var. formosana (Hayata) Nakai; P. sheareri var. stenophylla Nakai.

Large trees; trunk to 60 cm d.b.h. Bark gray-brown, slightly rough. Branchlets gray-brown pubescent. Petiole ca. 2 cm, pubescent; leaf blade glaucous abaxially, usually obovate or broadly obovate-lanceolate, rarely elliptic, 9-15(-20) × 4-6(-8) cm, thinly leathery, adaxially glabrous, abaxially gray-white pubescent rarely glabrate when old, midrib thick and lateral veins adaxially impressed, lateral veins 7-10 pairs, veinlets abaxially reticulate, base attenuate or cuneate, apex shortly acuminate or abruptly acute. Inflorescences axillary or subterminal, slender, 7-16 cm, branched near top of peduncle, pubescent. Flowers small, 2-2.5 mm. Perianth lobes ovate, hairy on both surfaces. Filaments glabrate to pubescent, those of 3rd series with subsessile glands at base. Staminodes triangular, stipitate, hairy. Ovary globose; style ca. 2.5 mm; stigma cap-shaped. Fruit ovoid or ovoid-ellipsoid, 8-9 mm; perianth lobes lax. Fl. May, fr. Oct.

● Mixed broad-leaved forests, very common in Taiwan; 100-2000 m. Anhui, Taiwan.