Castanopsis hamata M. S. Duan; C. megaphylla Hu (1948 [1949]), not C. megaphylla Hu (1940).

Trees ca. 25 m tall; branchlets, petiole of young leaves, and mature leaf blades abaxially pubescent and with usually glabrescent yellowish brown to reddish brown, small, lamellate, waxy scalelike trichomes. Petiole 1.5-2 cm; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, ovate, or narrowly oblong, 9-18 × 4-6 cm, thickly papery, base rounded to shortly cuneate and symmetric or slightly oblique, margin entire or rarely from middle to apex shallowly undulate, apex acuminate; midvein adaxially impressed or sometimes slightly raised or flat from base to middle; secondary veins 13-17 on each side of midvein. Infructescence 27 cm; rachis from base to middle 2-3.5 mm thick. Cupule ellipsoid to broadly obovoid, 2.5-3 cm in diam., outside and bracts pubescent and with usually glabrescent yellowish brown to reddish brown small lamellate waxy scalelike trichomes, wall 0.5-1 mm thick and exterior visible through bracts; bracts spinelike, 8-10 mm, greatly variable in thickness, base connate into scattered bundles. Nut 1(or 2) per cupule, broadly ovoid, 1.2-1.4 × 0.9-1.2 cm, puberulent; scar basal, 8-10 mm in diam. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Oct-Nov of following year.

Broad-leaved evergreen forests; 1000-1500 m. Guangdong, SW Guangxi, Hainan, SE Yunnan [NE Vietnam]