| Summary: | <i>Quercus bawanglingensis</i> Huang, Li et Xing, an endemic evergreen oak of the genus <i>Quercus</i> (Fagaceae) in China, is currently listed in the Red List of Chinese Plants as a vulnerable (VU) plant. No chloroplast (cp) genome information is currently available for <i>Q. bawanglingensis</i>, which would be essential for the establishment of guidelines for its conservation and breeding. In the present study, the cp genome of <i>Q. bawanglingensis</i> was sequenced and assembled into double-stranded circular DNA with a length of 161,394 bp. Two inverted repeats (IRs) with a total of 51,730 bp were identified, and the rest of the sequence was separated into two single-copy regions, namely, a large single-copy (LSC) region (90,628 bp) and a small single-copy (SSC) region (19,036 bp). The genome of <i>Q. bawanglingensis</i> contains 134 genes (86 protein-coding genes, 40 tRNAs and eight rRNAs). More forward (29) than inverted long repeats (21) are distributed in the cp genome. A simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis showed that the genome contains 82 SSR loci, involving 84.15% A/T mononucleotides. Sequence comparisons among the nine complete cp genomes, including the genomes of <i>Q. bawanglingensis</i>, <i>Q. tarokoensis</i> Hayata (NC036370), <i>Q. aliena var. acutiserrata</i> Maxim. ex Wenz. (KU240009), <i>Q. baronii</i> Skan (KT963087), <i>Q. aquifolioides</i> Rehd. et Wils. (KX911971), <i>Q. variabilis</i> Bl. (KU240009), <i>Fagus engleriana</i> Seem. (KX852398), <i>Lithocarpus balansae</i> (Drake) A. Camus (KP299291) and <i>Castanea mollissima</i> Bl. (HQ336406), demonstrated that the diversity of SC regions was higher than that of IR regions, which might facilitate identification of the relationships within this extremely complex family. A phylogenetic analysis showed that <i>Fagus engleriana</i> and <i>Trigonobalanus doichangensis</i> form the basis of the produced evolutionary tree. <i>Q. bawanglingensis</i> and <i>Q. tarokoensis</i>, which belong to the group <i>Ilex</i>, share the closest relationship. The analysis of the cp genome of <i>Q. bawanglingensis</i> provides crucial genetic information for further studies of this vulnerable species and the taxonomy, phylogenetics and evolution of <i>Quercus</i>.
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