Brown Oak is a tree up to about 20 m, sometimes
shrubby. Young shoots are woolly. Leaves are oblong to elliptic-oblong,
3.5-12 x l.6-7.5 cm, blunt, rarely pointed, green and becoming hairless
above, rusty woolly on the under surface, leathery, nerves forked,
margin entire to spinose. Male inflorescence is 4-8 cm long, dense
flowered, woolly; bracts broadly ovate, 2-2.2 mm long, fringed with
hairs; tepals blunt; stamens 5-8, filaments about 2 mm long, anthers
oblong, hairless. Cupule is 1.2-1.4 cm broad, velvet-hairy, scales
blunt or pointed. Nut is nearly spherical, 2.2-2.5 cm long, becoming
hairless, dark brown when mature. Brown Oak is found in the Himalayas,
from Afghanistan to NE India, S. Tibet, Burma, S. China, at altitudes
of 1700-3800 m. Flowering: May-June.