Quercus coccinea |
Quercus hinckleyi |
|
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scarlet oak |
Hinckley oak |
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Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m; lower trunk without stubs of dead branches. | Shrubs, evergreen, low, to 0.75(-1.5) m, spreading rhizomatously in thickets, intricately branched. |
Bark | dark gray to dark brown, irregularly fissured with scaly ridges, inner bark orangish pink. |
gray, scaly. |
Twigs | reddish brown, (1-)2-3.5 mm diam., glabrous. |
light brown, pruinose, becoming waxy-glaucous in 2d season, 1-1.5 mm diam., glabrous or sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent. |
Buds | minute, subrotund, 0.5-1 mm; scales reddish brown, glabrous except for ciliate margins. |
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Leaves | blade elliptic to ovate or obovate, 70-160 × 80-130 mm, base obtuse to truncate, margins with 5-9 deep lobes and 18-50 awns, lobes distally expanded, sinuses usually extending more than 1/2 distance to midrib, apex acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for minute axillary tufts of tomentum, adaxially glossy light green, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. |
blade subrotund or rotund, to 15 × 15 mm, thick, leathery, base cordate or auriculate, margins strongly crisped with 2-3 coarse, spinescent teeth on each side, cartilaginous-thickened secondary veins obscure, apex acute or obtuse, spine-tipped; surfaces abaxially blue-green, glaucous, glabrous, microscopically markedly papillose, adaxially blue-green, glaucous, glabrous, secondary veins slightly raised on both surfaces. |
Acorns | biennial; cup turbinate to hemispheric, 7-13 mm high × 16.5-31.5 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface light to dark reddish brown, glossy, glabrous to puberulent, inner surface light brown, glabrous, occasionally with ring of pubescence around scar, scales often tuberculate, base broad, glossy, margins strongly concave with tips tightly appressed, acute to attenuate; nut oblong to subglobose, 12-22 × 10-21 mm, glabrous, with 1 or more rings of fine pits at apex, scar diam. 6.5-13.5 mm. |
solitary, subsessile or on axillary peduncle to 4 mm; cup shallow, saucer-shaped, 1-3 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, enclosing base of nut only, margin irregularly undulate, scales closely appressed, minute, basally tuberculate-thickened, glabrous except for thin ciliate margins; nut ovoid, 10-20 × 8-12 mm, glabrous. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
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Terminal | buds dark reddish brown, conic to ovoid, 4-7 mm, noticeably 5-angled in cross section, usually silvery- or tawny-pubescent distal to middle. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Quercus coccinea |
Quercus hinckleyi |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Poor soils, well-drained uplands, dry slopes, and ridges, occasionally on poorly drained sites | On dry desert slopes |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 1150-1400 m (3800-4600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV
|
TX; Mexico |
Discussion | Trees having acorns with broad, distinctly warty cups are sometimes classified as Quercus coccinea var. tuberculata Sargent. Quercus coccinea reportedly hybridizes with Q. imbricaria, Q. ilicifolia (= Q. ×robbinsii Trelease), Q. laevis, and Q. palustris (E. J. Palmer 1948) and with Q. phellos, Q. rubra, and Q. velutina (= Q. ×fontana Laughlin). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. This species is known only from two sites in the United States, El Solitario and near Shafter, Texas. The Shafter population includes some individuals with characteristics that suggest hybridization with Quercus pungens Liebmann. These plants are larger, with more pubescent twigs and leaves, and hemispheric acorn cups to 10 mm deep. Such plants have recently been collected in adjacent Mexico. Fossil evidence from packrat middens indicates Q. hinckleyi probably had a broader distribution and was a dominant shrub between 19,000 and 9500 years ago. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. coccinea var. tuberculata | |
Name authority | Münchhausen: Hausvater 5(1): 254. (1770) | C. H. Muller: Contr. Texas Res. Found., Bot. Stud. 1: 40. (1951) |
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