Quercus myrsinifolia Blume

South China (Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang); Japan; Korea; Laos; Thailand; Vietnam; 200-2500 m; introduced in Europe in 1854 by Robert Fortune:

to 10 m tall, sometimes more, but shrubby in cultivation; often multitrunk; the width of crown is the same as the height of the tree;

5-12 x 2-4 cm ; evergreen (2 years); oval to elliptic-lanceolate; hard; hairless on both sides; light green above, slightly glaucous beneath; young leaves are purple-bronze, glabrous; remotely dentate in apical half; apex acuminate to shortly caudate, base cuneate or almost rounded; 9-14 vein pairs, straight, with midrib slightly impressed above; petiole 1.5 cm long, yellow green, hairless;

male flowers in early summer; pistillate flowers on young shoots, 2 to 6 on a slender peduncle;

acorn 1.4-2.5 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide; in clusters of 2 to 8, on a 3-4 cm long peduncle; dark brown; enclosed 1/3 or 1/2 by cup; cup 5-8 mm long, 10-18 cm wide, whitish pubescent outside, glabrous inside, thin (less than 1 mm), with 6-9 concentric rings, not denticulate at margin; scar flat, 5 mm in diameter; stylopodium evident, with 5-6 rings; maturing first year;

hardy; prefers lime-free soils; rather slow-growing ;

– A. Camus : tome 1, p. 264, n° 40 ; – Sub-genus Cerris, Section Cyclobalanopsis; – Section Glauca, sub-section Glaucae ( Menitsky ); – Also written “ myrsinifolia “ – For Govaerts & Frodin (1998) it was a synonym of Q.glauca ..but later (2002) they consider there are 2 true species.