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Arizona oak, Arizona white oak

pin oak, quercus palustris

Habit Trees, evergreen or subevergreen, small to moderate-sized trees, rarely to 18 m. Bark scaly. Trees, deciduous, to 25 m. Bark grayish brown, fissures broad, shallow, inner bark pinkish.
Twigs

yellowish, 1.5-2.5 mm diam., persistently felty-tomentose, eventually dingy gray.

reddish brown, 1.5-3(-4) mm diam., soon becoming glabrous.

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 elliptic to oblong, 50-160 × 50-120 mm, base cuneate to broadly obtuse or truncate with basal pair of lobes often somewhat recurved, margins with 5-7 lobes and 10-30 awns, lobes acute or attenuate or distally expanded, apex acute to acuminate;

surfaces abaxially glabrous except for conspicuous axillary tufts of tomentum, veins raised, adaxially planar, glabrous.

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 thin, saucer-shaped, 3-6 mm high × 9.5-16 mm wide, covering 1/4 nut, outer surface glabrous or puberulent, inner surface glabrous or with a few hairs around scar, scale tips tightly appressed, acute to obtuse;

nut globose or ovoid, 10-16 × 9-15 mm, often conspicuously striate, glabrous, scar diam. 5.5-9 mm.

Cotyledons

connate.

Terminal

buds brown to reddish brown, ovoid, 3-5 mm, glabrous or with a few fine hairs at apex.

2n

= 24.

Quercus arizonica

Quercus palustris

Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Oak and pinyon woodlands, margins of chaparral, arroyos Bottoms and poorly drained upland clay soils
Elevation 1300-2500(-3000) m (4300-8200(-9800) ft) 0-350 m (0-1100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; CT; DC; DE; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; MI; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; TN; VA; WI; WV; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 palustris is especially common in landscape and street plantings. Its persistent dead branchlets (pins) and branching pattern (drooping lower branches, horizontal middle branches, ascending upper branches) are quite distinctive.

This species reportedly hybridizes with Quercus coccinea (E. J. Palmer 1948) and with Q. imbricaria (= Q. ×exacta Trelease), Q. marilandica, Q. nigra, Q. phellos (= Q. ×schochiana Dieck), Q. rubra, Q. shumardii, and Q. velutina.

Some Native American tribes used infusions prepared from the bark of Quercus palustris to alleviate intestinal pains (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(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
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. sacame
Name authority Sargent: Gard. & Forest 8: 92. (1895) Münchhausen: Hausvater 5(1): 253. (1770)
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