Shorea robusta C.F.Gaertn.

Trees to 40 m tall, ± tardily deciduous; trunk to 2 m in diam.; crown spreading. Bark gray to dark reddish brown, becoming fissured and flaky; inner bark not laminated; wood hard; heartwood dark brown. Branchlets densely buff scabrous-pubescent. Stipules fugacious, lanceolate, small, lepidote; petiole 2-2.5 cm, buff scabrous-pubescent; leaf blade 10-40 × 5-24 cm, ovate to oblong, thinly leathery, midvein prominent abaxially and conspicuous adaxially, lateral veins ca. 12 pairs prominent abaxially, tertiary veins densely scalariform, glabrous, base obtuse to cordate, apex acuminate. Flowers subsessile, on panicles to 25 cm; branches racemose, secund; bracts caducous, minute. Petals strongly contorted, creamy-yellow or sometimes with a medium pink stripe, 1-1.5 cm × ca. 5 mm, linear. Sepals ovate, to 2 mm in bud, subequal, densely buff pubescent. Stamens many; anthers panduriform, setose toward apex; connective appendages short, stout, exceeding anther apex, sparsely setose. Ovary ovoid, densely buff pubescent. Fruit sepals unequal, spatulate, sparsely pubescent, 3 longer to 8 × 1.5 cm, 2 smaller to 3.5 × 0.5 cm; nut ovoid, ca. 5 × 12 mm. Fl. Feb-May, fr. May-Jul.

A rare plant in China, it is gregarious in savannah woodlands at elevations below 800 metres in south-eastern Xizang. Often the main tree in forests of Nepal at elevations up to 1,400 metres.

Roasted seeds are eaten. They are dried and ground into flour and then dried again and used for bread or with other ingredients like salt added. The seed oil remains solid at room temperature and after processing can substitute for Cocoa butter in the Chocolate industry. The fruit are occasionally eaten. CAUTION: The prolonged cooking and drying suggest some toxic substance needs to be removed. They contain tannins or phlobaphene. The flowers are used in curries.

Plants are grown from seed.