Quercus cornelius-mulleri |
Quercus myrtifolia |
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desert scrub oak, muller oak, muller's oak |
myrtle oak |
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Habit | Shrubs, evergreen or subevergreen, densely branched, 1-2(-3) m. Bark gray, scaly. | Trees or shrubs, evergreen, to 12 m. Bark gray and smooth distally, dark and shallowly furrowed near base. |
Twigs | gray, yellowish, or brownish, 1-1.5 mm diam., densely tomentulose, rarely glabrate. |
dark red-brown, 1-2.5(-3) mm diam., persistently pubescent, rarely almost glabrous. |
Buds | dull brown, ovoid, 2.5-3 mm, glabrous except for margins of scales. |
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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 elliptic to narrowly or broadly obovate, occasionally spatulate, 15-50(-70) × 10-25(-35) mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire, somewhat revolute, with 1-4 awns, apex obtuse or rounded; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for axillary tufts of tomentum, occasionally yellow-scurfy, adaxial surface planar, glabrous. |
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. |
biennial; cup saucer-shaped to shallowly goblet-shaped, 4-7 mm high × 8.5-14.5 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface half to fully pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut broadly ovoid to globose, 9.5-14 × 8-13 mm, glabrate, scar diam. 5-8 mm. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
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Terminal | buds reddish to purplish brown, ovoid, 2-5.5 mm, glabrous or with tuft of tawny hairs at apex. |
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Quercus cornelius-mulleri |
Quercus myrtifolia |
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Phenology | Flowering early spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Open chaparral, pinyon and juniper woodlands, desert margins, often on loose granitic soils | Dunes, hammocks, sandhills, dry sandy ridges, and oak scrub |
Elevation | 1000-1800 m (3300-5900 ft) | 0-100 m (0-300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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AL; FL; GA; MS; SC
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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.) |
This species flowers one to two weeks earlier than Q. inopina (A. F. Johnson and W. G. Abrahamson 1982). Quercus myrtifolia reportedly hybridizes with Q. incana (= Q. ×oviedoensis Sargent), but E. J. Palmer (1948) questioned the identification of the type specimen; the brief description by Sargent suggests that the specimen may be from an individual of Q. inopina. D. M. Hunt (1989) cited evidence of hybridization with Q. arkansana, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. inopina, Q. laurifolia, Q. marilandica, Q. nigra, and Q. pumila (Hunt suggested that the last may give rise to occasional reports of annual fruiting in Q. myrtifolia). (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 | ||
Name authority | Nixon & K. P. Steele: Madroño 28: 210. (1981) | Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 4(1): 424. (1805) |
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