Lithocarpus glaber (Thunb.) Nakai

Trees to 15 m tall; branchlets and rachis of inflorescences densely tawny tomentose. Petiole 1-2 cm, tomentose when young; leaf blade obovate, obovate-elliptic, or oblong, 6-12 × 2.5-5.5 cm, leathery to thickly papery, abaxially with dense scalelike glands and shortly tomentose when young, base cuneate, margin entire or with 2-4 teeth on apical part, apex abruptly acute, shortly acute, or long acuminate; secondary veins rarely over 10 on each side of midvein; tertiary veins abaxially usually not visible. Male inflorescences in a panicle or solitary in leaf axils, to 15 cm. Female inflorescences often with a few male flowers; cupules in clusters of 3(-5). Infructescences ca. 6 cm; rachis usually pubescent. Cupule plate- to cupular, 5-10 mm × 1-1.5 cm, enclosing 1/5-2/5 of nut, wall to 1.5 mm and woody near base; bracts imbricate or connate into concentric rings, triangular, small, appressed, densely puberulent. Nut ellipsoid, 1.2-2.5 × 0.8-1.5 cm, ± white glaucous, apex pointed, wall 0.5-1 mm thick; scar 3-5(-8) mm in diam., concave. Fl. Jul-Nov, fr. Jul-Nov of following year.

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan]

Mixed mesophytic forests, frequent on sunny slopes; below 1500 m.

Quercus glabra Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg., ed. 14, 858. 1784; Kuromatea glabra (Thunberg) Kudo; Lithocarpus thalassicus (Hance) Rehder; Pasania glabra (Thunberg) Oersted; P. sieboldiana (Blume) Nakai; P. thalassica (Hance) Oersted; Q. sieboldiana Blume; Q. thalassica Hance; Q. thalassica var. obtusiglans Dunn; Synaedrys glabra (Thunberg) Koidzumi.

Lithocarpus glaber, the Japanese oak, is a tree species in the genus Lithocarpus found in Japan, China and Taiwan.

Mitami Shrine, a Shinto shrine in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, is famous locally for its comparatively large population of Lithocarpus glaber, known as Shiribukagashi (尻深樫 シリブカガシ). In China, it is called ke (柯). In Cantonese, it is called Seklik (石櫟).

Condensed tannins from L. glaber leaves have been analysed through acid-catalyzed degradation in the presence of cysteamine and have a potent free radical scavenging activity.