Quercus cornelius-mulleri |
Quercus similis |
|
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desert scrub oak, muller oak, muller's oak |
bottomland post oak, delta post oak, swamp post oak |
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Habit | Shrubs, evergreen or subevergreen, densely branched, 1-2(-3) m. Bark gray, scaly. | Trees, deciduous, to 25 m, with single straight trunk. |
Bark | brown, scaly. |
|
Twigs | gray, yellowish, or brownish, 1-1.5 mm diam., densely tomentulose, rarely glabrate. |
grayish, 2-3 mm diam., persistently tomentulose. |
Buds | dull brown, ovoid, 2.5-3 mm, glabrous except for margins of scales. |
brown, ovoid, 2-3 mm, apex acute or rounded, proximally pubescent. |
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 obovate or narrowly obovate, (50-)75-120(-150) × 50-65(-80) mm, base rounded-attenuate or acute, margins flat, shallowly 2-3-lobed on each side, lobes usually simple, oblong or rounded, rarely spatulate, not cruciform, secondary veins 3-5 on each side, apex broadly ovate or acute; surfaces abaxially grayish, sparsely glandular and sparsely appressed-stellate, adaxially dark green, glossy, sparsely stellate. |
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. |
1-3, subsessile; cup 6-7 mm deep × 10-13 mm wide, scales closely appressed, grayish, finely tomentulose; nut light brown or dark reddish brown, ovoid or oblong, 12-16 × 8-12 mm, puberulent or glabrate. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
distinct. |
Quercus cornelius-mulleri |
Quercus similis |
|
Phenology | Flowering early spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Open chaparral, pinyon and juniper woodlands, desert margins, often on loose granitic soils | Forests in wet stream bottoms, flatwoods, river valleys |
Elevation | 1000-1800 m (3300-5900 ft) | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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AL; AR; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. ashei, Q. stellata var. paludosa | |
Name authority | Nixon & K. P. Steele: Madroño 28: 210. (1981) | Ashe: J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 40: 43. (1924) |
Web links |