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Zhui lian li evergreen oak
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Fagaceae
Genus:	Quercus
Subgenus:	Quercus subg. Cerris
Section:	Quercus sect. Ilex
Species:	Q. franchetii
Binomial name
	Quercus franchetii; Skan
Synonyms
	Quercus lanuginosa Franch.;

Quercus franchetii, commonly known as the zhui lian li evergreen oak,^{[citation needed]} is a species of oak in the Ilex section of the genus,^[3] native to a wide area of eastern Asia. It is an oak native to China (Sichuan and Yunnan), northern Thailand and Vietnam, growing at altitudes between 800 and 2,600 metres (2,600 and 8,500 feet).^[4]

Description

In nature, it forms an evergreen tree up to 15 metres (49 feet) high.^[4] Sometimes it is shrubby. When older, it has irregular and tortuous branches. The branches are covered with a creamy white, long lasting tomentum. The buds are small, globular with pointed apex, reddish and white ciliated edge.^[4]

The leathery oval leaves measure 5 to 12 centimetres (2 to 4+1⁄2 inches) long by 2.5 to 6 cm (1 to 2+1⁄4 in) wide, and are evergreen (remaining on the plant over winter). They have a cuneate (wedge-shaped) or slightly rounded base, and the upper surface is smooth and shiny, while the underside is densely covered with yellowish fur.^[4] The leaf margin is dentate, with 5 to 10 pairs of short teeth, though not near the base, and the leaf sits on a 1–2-cm long furry gray-yellow petiole. The fruit is an acorn which measures 0.9–1.1 cm in length by 0.8 cm across; ovoid, apex depressed but mucronate; silky; short peduncle (1.5–3 cm); enclosed two-thirds by cup; cup 0.8–1.1 cm in diameter, scaly; maturing in 1 or 2 years.^[4]

Taxonomy

This species was described in 1899 and dedicated to Adrien René Franchet, a botanist at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. Franchet had a few months earlier named and described this species as Q. lanuginosa,^[5] but his name turned out to have been used before, so Skan renamed it as Q. franchetii.^[6] It is in subgenus Cerris, section Ilex,^[7] resembling Q. lanata.