Trees, occasionally shrubs , previously often massive, to 20 m, now rarely more than 10 m, mostly resprouting following blight. Bark brownish, deeply or moderately fissured. Twigs glabrous when young. Leaves: petiole usually (8-)10-15 mm. Leaf blade narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, (40-)120-200(-260) × 30-100 mm, base rounded to slightly cordate or slightly cuneate, margins sharply serrate, each lateral vein terminating in cuneate, gradually acuminate tooth with awn usually more than 2 mm, apex acute or acuminate; surfaces abaxially densely to sparsely covered with appressed, whitish, minute, stellate trichomes, sometimes essentially glabrate, especially on shade leaves, veins glabrous or with a few simple trichomes. Pistillate flower 1 per cupule. Fruits: cupule 2-valved, enclosing 1 flower/fruit, valves irregularly dehiscing along 2 sutures, longest spines usually more than 10 mm; nut 1 per cupule, oval-conic, 9-19 × 8-14 mm, round in cross section, not flattened, beak less than excluding styles.
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A medium sized tree. It grows 6-15 m high. The trunk is 10-50 cm across. The bark is grey-brown and smooth but cracks into flat plates. The leaves are 13-20 cm long by 4-7.5 cm wide. The are narrowly long or sword shaped with many straight parallel side veins. These have teeth at the ends. The leaf stalks are short and nearly hairless. The leaves are yellow-green above and paler underneath. There can be fine white hairs underneath. The flowers are very small and white. There are many male flowers in catkins 5-20 cm long. There are a few female flowers 5 mm long at the base of smaller catkins. The fruit are 2.5-3 cm across. The burs are very spiny. They split open. They contain one round nut which is dark brown and edible.
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