Deciduous small tree, 4-8 m.; bark grey, scaly; crown ovoid. Branches ascending and horizontal; young twigs striate, puberulent, yellowish-tomentose, soon becoming glabrescent. Buds ovoid, scales ovate, hairy at margin or glabrous. Leaves 4-7 x 2-4 cm., ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, rounded or tapering at base, obtuse at apex, undulate or more or less regularly sinuate-toothed to crenate with ascending, triangular, acute, muticous or mucronulate teeth, glossy on upper surface, pubescent to fleecy on lower when young, later glabrescent or glabrous, with 7-9 lateral nerves; petiole 0.5-1 (-2) cm., glabrous or glabrescent; stipules hairy, deciduous. Staminate catkins 4-6 cm., with hairy axis; flowers loose; perianth of 4-6 ovate, hairy lobes; anthers glabrous or glabrescent. Pistillate catkins 1-2-flowered, on a very short, puberulent axis; styles 3 (-4), recurved. Acorns usually 3-4 x l cm., solitary or in pairs, short-pedicelled or sessile, oblong to cylindrical, maturing in the first year; cupule hemispherical or cyathiform, somewhat narrow at throat; scales of cupule appressed, triangular-ovate to short-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, more or less thickened, tomentose or glabrous on back; gland oblong-cylindrical, 3-5 times as long as cupule. Fl. March-­April. Fr. October.