Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus cornelius-mulleri

Quercus mohriana

desert scrub oak, muller oak, muller's oak

Mohr oak, Mohr's oak, Mohr's shinoak
Habit Shrubs, evergreen or subevergreen, densely branched, 1-2(-3) m. Bark gray, scaly. Shrubs or trees, evergreen or deciduous, shrubs erect, rhizomatous, trees small, 0.5-3 m. Bark pale, rough and deeply furrowed.
Twigs

gray, yellowish, or brownish, 1-1.5 mm diam., densely tomentulose, rarely glabrate.

yellowish or whitish, 1-2 mm diam., felty-tomentose.
Buds

dull brown, ovoid, 2.5-3 mm, glabrous except for margins of scales.

dark red-brown, round-ovoid, 2 mm, glabrous, occasionally puberulent on outer scales, not subtended by persistent, hairy, subulate stipules.
Leaves

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.

blade usually strongly bicolored, oblong or elliptic, (15-)30-50(-80) × (10-)20-30(-35) mm, leathery, base rounded, rarely cuneate or cordulate, margins entire or toothed or denticulate, undulate or flat, secondary veins 8-9 on each side, apex rounded or acute;

surfaces abaxially densely gray- or white-tomentose with semi-erect curly, stellate hairs, secondary veins rather prominently raised, adaxially dark or dull green, lustrous or somewhat glaucous, with minute, scattered, semi-erect or appressed-stellate, (4-)6 or many rayed hairs, not felty to touch, secondary veins slightly raised or prominent within depressions.
Acorns

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.

solitary or paired, subsessile or peduncle sometimes 10-15 mm, tomentose like twigs;

cup shallowly to very deeply cup-shaped, 5-12 mm deep × 8-18 mm wide, enclosing 1/2 nut, base rounded or flat, margin thin, scales triangular-ovate to oblong, proximal scales coarsely tuberculate and canescent-tomentose, distal ones usually elongate and narrowed, tips appressed, reddish, thin, nearly glabrous;

nut light brown, ellipsoid to ovoid, 8-15 × 5-12 mm.
Cotyledons

distinct.

connate.

Quercus cornelius-mulleri

Quercus mohriana
Phenology Flowering early spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Open chaparral, pinyon and juniper woodlands, desert margins, often on loose granitic soils Limestone hills and slopes, calcareous substrates
Elevation 1000-1800 m (3300-5900 ft) 600-2500 m (2000-8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NM; OK; TX; Mexico (Coahuila)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Putative hybrids between Quercus mohriana Buckley and Q. grisea Liebmann are problematic and highly polymorphic. They are restricted to zones of contact between limestone, the preferred habitat of Q. mohriana, and igneous substrates, the preferred habitat of Q. grisea, or sometimes on dolomite, in western Texas.

(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
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. 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. 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
Name authority Nixon & K. P. Steele: Madroño 28: 210. (1981) Buckley: in Rydberg, Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 2: 219. (1901)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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