Quercus arizonica |
Quercus cornelius-mulleri |
|
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Arizona oak, Arizona white oak |
desert scrub oak, muller oak, muller's oak |
|
Habit | Trees, evergreen or subevergreen, small to moderate-sized trees, rarely to 18 m. Bark scaly. | Shrubs, evergreen or subevergreen, densely branched, 1-2(-3) m. Bark gray, scaly. |
Twigs | yellowish, 1.5-2.5 mm diam., persistently felty-tomentose, eventually dingy gray. |
gray, yellowish, or brownish, 1-1.5 mm diam., densely tomentulose, rarely glabrate. |
Buds | dull russet-brown, ovoid, distally subacute or rounded, 3 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrate. |
dull brown, ovoid, 2.5-3 mm, glabrous except for margins of scales. |
Leaves | blade elliptic or oblong to narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, planar or moderately convex, to (30-)40-80(-90) × 15-30 mm, thick and leathery, usually stiff, base cordate or rounded and weakly cordate, margins entire or coarsely toothed especially near apex, cartilaginously revolute, teeth mucronate-tipped, obscure or prominent, secondary veins ca. 7-11 on each side, branching, passing into teeth when present, apex acute to usually obtuse or broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially dull, sparsely pubescent or subtomentose with curly branched hairs, reticulate from prominent, raised secondary veins, usually glaucous where exposed, adaxially dark or bluish green, moderately lustrous, sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent, secondary veins slightly raised or prominent within depressions or impressed. |
blade strongly bicolored, ovate to oblong or narrowly obovate, 15-35 ×10-20 mm, rather thick and leathery, base cuneate or attenuate-rounded, margins entire or irregularly, shallowly toothed, teeth mucronate, rarely spinose, secondary veins 6-7 on each side, apex rounded or acute; surfaces abaxially whitish, densely covered with minute, compact, appressed, (8-)10-14(-16)-rayed stellate hairs less than 0.2 mm diam. (lateral fusion of rays visible under high magnification), without glandular seriate hairs, adaxially dull, light green, grayish, or yellowish green, with scattered, appressed-stellate hairs to 0.2 mm diam. |
Acorns | solitary or paired, subsessile, occasionally on peduncle to 15 mm; cup hemispheric or cup-shaped, 5-10(-15) mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, enclosing ca. 1/2 nut, base rounded, margin rather coarse, scales cream to brown, broadly ovate, evenly and strongly tuberculate, tomentose, tips closely appressed; nut light brown, ovoid or oblong, 8-12 mm, nearly glabrous. |
solitary or clustered, subsessile; cup deeply cup-shaped or turbinate, to 5-13 mm deep × 12-20 mm wide, scales whitish or cream, strongly tuberculate especially near base of cup; nut dark brown, fusiform or cylyndric, 20-30 × 10-30 mm. |
Cotyledons | connate. |
distinct. |
Quercus arizonica |
Quercus cornelius-mulleri |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering early spring. |
Habitat | Oak and pinyon woodlands, margins of chaparral, arroyos | Open chaparral, pinyon and juniper woodlands, desert margins, often on loose granitic soils |
Elevation | 1300-2500(-3000) m (4300-8200(-9800) ft) | 1000-1800 m (3300-5900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and Sonora)
|
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Some of the specimens previously referred to Quercus endemica by C. H. Muller belong here instead. Putative hybrids between Quercus arizonica and Q. grisea (= Q. ×organensis Trelease) are problematic in local areas of contact from southeastern Arizona to western Texas. These intermediates tend to have narrower leaves than Q. arizonica, with moderately reticulate patterns of venation, and more densely hairy leaves. Quercus arizonica and Q. grisea are amply distinct elsewhere, including large areas in northern Mexico, and they appear to be more closely related to other species than to one another (e.g., Q. arizonica with Q. oblongifolia and Q. laeta Liebmann, and Q. grisea with Q. mohriana and Q. microphylla Née). Thus, Q. arizonica and Q. grisea are best treated as distinct species that hybridize, and not as conspecific populations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Quercus cornelius-mulleri is easily distinguished from other California scrub oaks by the strongly bicolored leaves, dense minute tomentum of the abaxial leaf surface, and large acute acorns in deep tuberculate cups. Of greater difficulty are swarms of putative hybrids with Q. engelmannii, sometimes referred to as Q. ×acutidens. In Joshua Tree National Monument a lone tree and several shrubs appear to be hybrids and backcrosses between Quercus cornelius-mulleri and Q. lobata. This tree is the basis of Quercus ×munzii J. M. Tucker. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. sacame | |
Name authority | Sargent: Gard. & Forest 8: 92. (1895) | Nixon & K. P. Steele: Madroño 28: 210. (1981) |
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