Quercus arizonica |
Quercus graciliformis |
|
---|---|---|
Arizona oak, Arizona white oak |
Chisos oak |
|
Habit | Trees, evergreen or subevergreen, small to moderate-sized trees, rarely to 18 m. Bark scaly. | Trees, tardily deciduous, to 8 m. Bark gray, furrowed. |
Twigs | yellowish, 1.5-2.5 mm diam., persistently felty-tomentose, eventually dingy gray. |
straw colored to brown or deep reddish brown, 1-2 mm diam., glabrate or somewhat pubescent at apex. |
Buds | dull russet-brown, ovoid, distally subacute or rounded, 3 mm, sparsely pubescent or glabrate. |
|
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 lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, widest proximal to middle, 45-90 × 10-25 mm, base rounded to cuneate, margins entire or with 8-10 teeth or shallow lobes with rounded sinuses, awns 1-9, apex acute to long-attenuate; surfaces abaxially glabrous or occasionally with small axillary tufts of tomentum, adaxially glabrous except for scattered pubescence near base and along midrib. |
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. |
biennial; cup saucer- to shallowly bowl-shaped, 4-6 mm high × 7-10 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3 nut, outer surface puberulent to glabrate, inner surface uniformly pubescent, scales appressed, acute, occasionally tuberculate at base; nut ovoid to narrowly ellipsoid, 9-18 × 7-10 mm, minutely puberulent, scar diam. 3-4.5 mm. |
Cotyledons | connate. |
|
Terminal | buds glossy brown or red-brown, ovoid, 1.5-3 mm, minutely ciliate. |
|
Quercus arizonica |
Quercus graciliformis |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Oak and pinyon woodlands, margins of chaparral, arroyos | Dry rocky canyons of the Chisos Mountains |
Elevation | 1300-2500(-3000) m (4300-8200(-9800) ft) | 0-1650 m (0-5400 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and Sonora)
|
TX |
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.) |
Of conservation concern. Quercus graciliformis reportedly hybridizes with Q. emoryi. (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. Lobatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. sacame | Q. canbyi, Q. graciliformis var. parvilobata |
Name authority | Sargent: Gard. & Forest 8: 92. (1895) | C. H. Muller: Torreya 34: 120. (1934) |
Web links |