Quercus cocciferoides Hand.-Mazz.

Tree to 15 m, branching from the base. Branchlets tomentose. Leaves semievergreen, 3–8 × 1.5–3 cm, narrowly elliptic, ovate or somewhat lanceolate, papery, immature leaves pubescent, but mature leaves almost glabrous, 6 to 11 secondary veins on each side of the midrib, margins serrate from middle to apex, apex acuminate; petiole 0.5–0.8 cm long, tomentose. Infructescence ~2.5 cm long with four to five cupules. Cupule cup- or kettle-shaped, 1–1.2 × 1–1.5 cm, with appressed hairs; scales triangular, not firmly attached to cupule wall. Acorn subglobose, with about three-quarters of its length enclosed in the cupule, 1–1.2 cm long × 1 cm wide, apex mucronate, tomentose; stylopodium persistent. Flowering April to June, fruiting September to November of the same year (China). (Huang et al. 1999; Menitsky 2005)

Distribution  China Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan

Habitat Sunny mountain slopes, dry river valleys; 1000–2600 m asl.

USDA Hardiness Zone 8-9

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note Quercus cocciferoides var. taliensis is accepted by Govaerts et al. (2020), but for Huang et al. (1999) it is a synonym. It was described originally as Q. taliensis, by A. Camus, who distinguished it as having leaves glabrous with entire margins in the lower quarter, but this could also apply to typical Q. cocciferoides. Occurs near Dali in Yunnan (formerly, Tali, hence the epithet).