Shrubs , deciduous or tardily deciduous, to 1 m. Bark gray to dark brown. Twigs gray-brown to reddish brown, 1-2 mm diam., sparsely to uniformly pubescent. Terminal buds brown to red-brown, ovoid, 2.5-4.5 mm, glabrous or with ciliate scale margins. Leaves: petiole 1.5-4.5 mm, pubescent. Leaf blade oblong to narrowly obovate, 25-100 × 10-33 mm, base acute to rounded, margins entire, revolute, with 1 apical awn, apex acute or obtuse to rounded; surfaces abaxially uniformly gray-brown pubescent, rarely glabrate, adaxially somewhat convex, rugose, glabrous or with scattered hairs along midrib. Acorns annual; cup deeply saucer-shaped to turbinate, 5-12 mm high × 10-15 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2(-2/3) nut, outer surface pubescent, inner surface densely pubescent, scales rarely involute, often tuberculate, tips tightly appressed, acute; nut globose to ovoid or broadly oblong, 9.5-15 × 9-12 mm, glabrate, scar diam. 5-8 mm.

Flowering spring. Dry sandy soils of savannahs, low ridges and oak-pine scrub, occasionally at margins of poorly drained sites; 0-100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C.

Although no hybrid combinations have been formally proposed, D. M. Hunt (1989) has reported evidence of hybridization with Quercus hemisphaerica , Q . incana , Q . myrtifolia , and Q . phellos .