Deciduous tree to 20 m or more tall. Bark thick, furrowed. Young shoots hairy. Leaves mostly large, obovate, sometimes narrow, mostly 12-25 cm long, 7-15 cm wide, dark green above, white-hairy below; margin deeply lobed with the central indentations the deepest and the lower lobes often cut almost to the midrib; tip rounded, the base tapering gradually. Leaf stalk to 3 cm long, usually downy. Acorns 1-3 together, each to 5 cm long, about half enclosed in the cup which has spreading scales forming a fringe on the cup lip; stalk absent or less than 1 cm long.
C & E North America
Grows naturally in a wide range of conditions from moist lowlands to dry hillsides, mainly on limestone soils.
Timber used for carpentry, construction etc.
Leaves hairy below and with the deepest indentations in the centre forming a distinctive waist; large acorns in cups with lips fringed by wavy scales. The var. oliviformis (as at Castlemaine Botanical Gardens, Victoria) is recognised by some authorities and is distinguished by its smaller, more deeply lobed leaves sometimes cut almost to the midrib and acorns that hardly protrude from the cup and are olive-shaped and smaller than those of the typical variety.
SA: Adelaide Botanic Garden (specimen by kiosk planted 1901). ACT: Forrest (National Circuit). NSW: Khancoban (main street, avenue of trees opposite Alpine Inn and service station). VIC: Ballarat (Ballarat Botanical Gardens); Castlemaine (Castlemaine Botanical Gardens, 20 m tall in 1991); Creswick (School of Ecosystem and Forestry Sciences, Creswick); Kyneton (Kyneton Botanic Gardens); Melbourne (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Melbourne Gardens), Oak Lawn, a herbarium specimen was collected from this tree in 1906).
Source: (1997). Fagaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
