Lithocarpus formosanus (Skan) Hayata

Trees tall. Young shoots ± sulcate, glabrous. Petiole 1-1.3 cm, base ± thickened; leaf blade elliptic to sometimes obovate-elliptic and ± recurved, 5-8 × 2-3 cm, thickly leathery, rigid and crustaceous when dry, abaxially glaucous, turning grayish brown when dry, and with adherent, waxy scalelike trichomes, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate and decurrent on petiole, margin entire, apex rounded; secondary veins 7-11 on each side of midvein, abaxially slightly raised or not; tertiary veins not visible or very slender, evident. Male inflorescences congested at apex of branches, 3-6 cm. Female inflorescence with cupules solitary, scattered on rachis. Infructescence ca. 3 cm; rachis equaling branches in thickness. Cupule discoid, ca. 3 mm × 1.2 cm; bracts imbricate, triangular, small, appressed, grayish tomentose. Nut broadly conical, ca. 1.3 × 1.6 cm, glabrous, apex pointed; scar ca. 8 mm in diam., concave. Fl. Feb-Mar, fr. Sep-Nov.

S Taiwan

* Mixed mesophytic forests; 100-500 m.

Quercus formosana Skan in F. B. Forbes & Hemsley, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 26: 513. 1899; Pasania formosana (Skan) Schottky; Synaedrys formosana (Skan) Koidzumi.

Lithocarpus formosanus is a species of tree in the family Fagaceae. L. formosanus is a medium-sized tree with crooked trunk and many branches. It is endemic to Taiwan as it only occurs in the Hengchun Peninsula in the extreme south of the country. It grows in mixed mesophytic forests at altitudes of 100–500 m (330–1,640 ft). Only single population of fewer than 50 individuals survives.

Lithocarpus formosanus is similar to L. dodonaeifolius, and their identity as separate species has been questioned. Molecular methods suggest that they are closely related but distinct species.