Quercus dolicholepis var. elliptica (Y. C. Hsu & H. W. Jen) Y. C. Hsu & H. W. Jen; Q. spathulata Seemen (1897), not Watelet (1866); Q. spathulata Seemen var. elliptica Y. C. Hsu & H. W. Jen.

Trees to 16 m tall, evergreen. Young branchlets yellowish gray stellate tomentose, glabrescent. Petiole 4-5 mm, tomentose; leaf blade elliptic, obovate-spatulate, or obovate-elliptic, 2-8 × 1.5-4 cm, leathery, with yellowish brown simple or fascicled hairs when young, abaxially pubescent or glabrescent, adaxially smooth or rugose, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or cordate, margin entire or apically serrate, apex obtuse to mucronate; secondary veins 7 or 8 on each side of midvein; tertiary veins abaxially slender, evident to obscure. Infructescence with 1 or 2 cupules; rachis ca. 1 cm, tomentose. Cupule cupular, ca. 1 × 2 cm including bracts, enclosing 2/3-3/4 of nut; bracts reddish brown, linear-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, grayish pilose, apex reflexed. Nut ovoid to subglobose, 1.2-1.7 × 1.3-1.5 cm, apex tomentose; scar ca. 5 mm in diam., slightly raised; stylopodium ca. 1 mm in diam., easily broken. Fl. Mar-May, fr. Oct of following year.

Quercus fimbriata Chun & C. C. Huang ex Y. C. Hsu & H. W. Jen (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 14(2): 86. 1976) from Sichuan and Yunnan, is probably a hybrid between Q. dolicholepis and Q. aquifolioides.

* Forests in mountains; 500-2800 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan