Castanopsis tribuloides (Sm.) A. DC.

Trees 5-10 m tall; young branchlets and young leaf blades abaxially pubescent and with glabrescent, rusty brown, waxy scalelike trichomes. Petiole 1-1.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 9-16 × 3.5-5 cm, abaxially reddish brown but may become gray to grayish brown with age, base acute to rounded, margin entire or rarely with 1 or 2 teeth, apex acute; midvein adaxially impressed; secondary veins 11-14 on each side of midvein, sometimes impressed. Infructescences ca. 25 cm; rachis slender. Cupules loosely arranged, globose to ellipsoid, 1.6-2.2 cm in diam., outside covered with brownish, small, lamellate, waxy scalelike trichomes, sometimes pubescent, wall to 1 mm thick; bracts spinelike, sparsely covering cupule, 3-5 mm, slender, free but a few in bundles. Nut 1 per cupule, broadly conical, 1.5-2 × 1-1.6 cm, glabrous; scar basal, 8-10 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct of following year.

Himalaya (Kumaun to NEFA), Khasia, Burma, S.W. China (Yunnan), Indo-China.

SE Xizang (Mêdog Xian), SW Yunnan [N India, Myanmar, Nepal, N Thailand]

450-2300 m

Broad-leaved evergreen forests; circa 1300 m.

Quercus tribuloides Smith in Rees, Cycl. 29: Quercus no. 13. 1814; Castanea tribuloides (Smith) Lindley.

Castanopsis tribuloides is a species of flowering plant in the beech family Fagaceae, native to the Himayalas and higher areas of mainland Southeast Asia. In Vietnam it is cultivated for its edible nuts, and in India it is coppiced for firewood.