Trees 10-20 m tall; bark dark gray. Branchlets brown, glabrous. Petiole (1-)1.5-3 cm, glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent; leaf blade elliptic, oblong, or ovate-lanceolate, 6-11 × 3-5 cm, abaxially sparsely villous along midvein and lateral veins, sometimes bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially glabrous, base subcordate, rarely rounded-cuneate or subrounded, margin doubly mucronate serrate or setiform serrate, apex acuminate, acute, or caudate; lateral veins 12-15 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescence 5-15 × 2.5-3 cm; peduncle slender, 1.5-4 cm, sparsely pubescent; bracts semiovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2.5(-3) cm, subglabrous, unequally 3-lobed, middle lobe semiovate-lanceolate or oblong, straight or subfalcate, outer margin coarsely dentate, with ovate, flattened basal lobe ca. 3 mm, inner margin entire, with ovate, inflexed basal lobe 3-3.5 mm, apex acute or obtuse; veins 4, reticulate veins prominent. Nutlet broadly ovoid, 3-4 × 2.5-3.5 mm, glabrous except villous at apex, sparsely resinous glandular, prominently ribbed. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 16.
Woods and thickets on slopes, often in moist oak forests of higher montane zones as well as subtropical broad-leaved forests, sometimes forming nearly pure stands at higher elevations