Trees, deciduous, to 20 m. Bark grayish brown, fissures and ridges shallow, inner bark pinkish. Twigs greenish brown to brown, 1.5-3(-4) mm diam., glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Terminal buds brown to reddish brown, ovoid, 3-6 mm, distinctly 5-angled in cross section, scales minutely ciliate on margins. Leaves: petiole 10-20 mm, glabrous. Leaf blade ovate or elliptic to obovate, usually widest near middle, 80-200 × 15-75 mm, base obtuse to cuneate, occasionally rounded, margins entire with 1 apical awn, apex acute to obtuse; surfaces abaxially uniformly pubescent, adaxially lustrous, glabrous. Acorns biennial; cup deeply saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 5-9 mm high × 10-18 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface light brown to reddish brown and glabrous or with a few hairs around nut scar, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut ovoid to subglobose, 9-18 × 10-18 mm, often striate, having 1 or more indistinct rings of minute pits at apex, glabrate, scar diam. 5-9 mm. 2n = 24.
