Quercus franchetii Skan

In Yunnan, oak forests dominated by Quercus franchetii form a relatively low canopy, 6–8 m high, where the species is found in association with Keteleeria evelyniana, Albizia mollis, Pistacia chinensis, Morus alba, and Cercis glabra, among others. These forests occur on mountain slopes, on shallow, dry, calcareous clay soils (le Hardÿ de Beaulieu & Lamant 2010).

Grimshaw and Bayton reported it was rare in cultivation (2009), but younger specimens are now found in several collections. A tree at Tregrehan, England measured 12 m × 38 cm in 2014 (Tree Register 2020), it was obtained in 1990 as a young plant from Susan Cooper, who received acorns from Kunming Botanical Garden. It formed an upright tree, unlike the somewhat shrubby specimens seen in the wild (Grimshaw & Bayton 2009). The Tree Register (2020) records younger trees at White House Farm, England, and Penrice Castle, Wales, and trees of this species also grow in Arboretum des Pouyouleix and l’Arboretum municipal Roger de Vilmorin (France), the Iturraran Botanical Garden (Spain), and in several US collections including the Morton Arboretum; at Starhill Forest, plants grown from seed collected in Yunnan survived for a time planted in the field and in containers but have since died (G. Sternberg pers .comm. 2023). At Chevithorne Barton, England, there are two trees grown from seed collected from a 6 m tree by Allen Coombes in Kunming, Yunnan, in 1998 (CMBS 521), that are about 5.5 and 6 m tall respectively. The larger of these produces numerous acorns that do not mature (G. Watson pers. comm. 2023). At Arboretum de la Bergerette, France it is grown from seed received from China in 2007. Three trees of this collection are at Penrice Castle, the largest 4 m n 2018.

According to le Hardÿ de Beaulieu and Lamant (2010) trees of this species are often planted next to pagodas for their ornamental value, in particular the bluish-green tomentum on the unripe acorns and the white undersides of the leaves.

Described in 1899 and named after Adrien René Franchet (1834–1900), botanist at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle in Paris, noted for his extensive work describing the flora of China and Japan, based on the collections made by French Catholic missionaries in China.