Quercus acrodonta Seem.

China (Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan), 300 m to 2300 m ;

small tree or shrub, but can reach 15 m tall;

2.5 to 4 cm long, 1 to 2 cm wide; persistent 2 years; subrhomboidal or oblong; base rounded or weakly cordate; apex shortly acuminate; margin with scattered spiny teeth in the apical half; glabrous and lustrous grey-green above; densely pubescent and yellowish below with stipitate stellate hairs; 6-7 pairs of secondary veins, pubescent, slightly raised beneath (with midrib very prominent abaxially and slightly impressed above), hidden in the tomentum; petiole 3-5 mm long, tomentose;

pistillate flowers in May, near top of the tree; inflorescence with tomentose rachis; male catkin 1,5-2 cm long;

acorn 1.5-2 cm long, 1.3 cm in diameter; ovoid, with yellowish hairs at apex; singly or paired on a very short rachis; enclosed for 1/4 of length in cup; cup with greyish tomentose scales, somewhat reddish at top; maturing in 2 years, in September-October;

hardy ; all types of soils, but prefers calcareous ones ;

– A. Camus : tome 1, p. 412, n° 99 ; – Sub-genus Cerris, Section Ilex; – Resembles Q.phillyreoides A.Gray, but differs from it in having dense pubescence under the leaves, and the midrib sunken above; – For Govaerts & Frodin, following Camus and Menitsky, Q. handeliana (= Q. parvifolia Hand.-Mazz.) is a true species, in Yunnan ; for  The Flora of China 2008, it is a synonym for Q.acrodonta .