A chestnut-like plant with a spiny oval edge. The fruit is surrounded by prickly balls, but it is not as hard as chestnuts. Each ball is only wrapped in a circle.

It should be Quercus variabilis, belonging to FAGACEAE with chestnuts. Deciduous tree with dark brown bark, deep longitudinal split, oval-lanceolate or rectangular leaves, and spiny serrations on the leaf margin. The flower is unisexual, the male flower is catkin, the female flower is solitary, the fruit is nut, the seed is wrapped in a "shell bucket" with spikes or scales outside, and some shell buckets form a cup-shaped shell with half nuts.