Leaves shining green, lanceolate to elliptic, up to about 8 cm long, with the veins branching short of the margin; margin spiny or smooth; leaves hairless beneath. Acorn about 2 cm long, ovoid, with a fine point, about twice as long as the cup.
A large tree 30 m or more. It tolerates side shade when young, but growth of older trees is better in the open. Best growth is on well-drained clay loam, and on shallow gravelly soils growth becomes stunted. The tree is frost-hardy, but early frosts sometimes kill the seedlings. It does not tolerate drought It coppices well, until the trees are about 10 cm in diameter; trees larger than this coppice poorly in many localities.
Between 2100 and 2700 m, usually found on damp sites and north-facing slopes in Q. leucotrichophora-Q.lanata forest. Rare east of the Kali Gandaki River, and absent from eastern Nepal.
The seed ripens between August and October, and under natural conditions germinates soon after falling. In a good seed year abundant young natural seedlings will be found near to the seed-bearers, but many may die off during the next dry season, if exposed to the sun. In moist shady places dense thickets of seedlings may develop. There are 500-600 seeds kg-1.
In Jaunsar in India plantations (direct sown) averaged 4.3 m in height after 20 years, which is slow.
The wood weighs about 970 kg m-3. In the Western Himalaya it is used for building and agricultural implements, and is one of the best oaks for timber. In India the leaves are much used as fodder; they contain 9.6 per cent crude protein, with a digestibility coefficient of 44 per cent The total digestible nutrients are 43.2 per cent. It is a valued fodder in Jumla (B.D. Yadav, 1992).