Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus ellipsoidalis

Quercus chihuahuensis

Hill's oak, Jack oak, northern pin oak

Chihuahua oak, Chihuahuan oak, felt oak
Habit Trees, deciduous, to 20 m; lower trunk often with stubs of dead branches. Shrubs or trees, deciduous, to 10 m. Bark gray, furrowed, checkered, or scaly.
Bark

dark gray-brown, shallowly fissured, inner bark orangish.

Twigs

dark reddish brown, (1-)1.5-3 mm diam., glabrous.

gray, 2-3(-4) mm diam., densely tomentose.
Buds

reddish brown, broadly ovoid, distally rounded, 2-2.5 mm, densely yellowish pubescent;

scales gray-puberulent;

stipules persistent, 1-4, subulate, pubescent, at base of terminal buds.
Leaves

blade elliptic, 70-130 × 50-100 mm, base obtuse to truncate, margins with 5-7 deep lobes and 15-55 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 elliptic or oblong to ovate or obovate, (25-)40-50(-85) × (18-)20-30(-50) mm, base rounded or shallowly cordate, margins entire or toothed to sublobate, secondary veins 8 to 10 on each side, somewhat branching, apex broadly rounded to acute;

surfaces abaxially yellowish or grayish, densely stellate with velvety hairs, adaxially green, sparsely soft-pubescent with prominent, spreading, stellate hairs, felty to touch, secondary veins somewhat prominent on both surfaces, even under dense tomentum.
Acorns

biennial;

cup narrowly turbinate to deeply cup-shaped, 6-11 mm high × 10-19 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface reddish brown, puberulent, inner surface light brown, glabrous, rarely with ring of pubescence around scar, scales with straight or slightly concave margins, tips tightly appressed, obtuse or acute;

nut ellipsoid to ovoid, rarely subglobose, 10-20 × 9-15 mm, occasionally striate, glabrous, occasionally with 1 or more faint rings of fine pits at apex, scar diam. 4-8 mm.

1-3 on tomentose peduncle 15-35(-60) mm;

cup hemispheric, 7-10 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, enclosing 1/2 nut, scales proximally thickened, distally appressed, densely gray-puberulent, tips reddish, ultimately glabrate;

nut ovoid, 14-18 × 10-12 mm, puberulent, eventually glabrate.
Cotyledons

connate.
Terminal

buds dark reddish brown, ovoid, 3-5 mm, often conspicuously 5-angled in cross section, usually silvery- or tawny-pubescent toward apex.

Quercus ellipsoidalis

Quercus chihuahuensis
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Dry sandy sites, rarely on moderately mesic slopes or uplands Oak and pinyon-juniper woodlands, grassy hills, sometimes extending into dry thorn scrub and bursera woodland (Mexico)
Elevation 150-500 m (500-1600 ft) 400-2000 m (1300-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
IA; IL; IN; MI; MN; OH; WI; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

In many treatments (e.g., E. G. Voss 1972+, vol. 2), Quercus ellipsoidalis is included in Q. coccinea. Variation in fruit morphology has led to recognition of several formae (W. Trelease 1919; see also R. J. Jensen 1986) and one variety (Q. ellipsoidalis var. kaposianensis, based on specimens from St. Paul, Minnesota, in which the cup tightly encloses the nut for two-thirds its length at maturity).

Quercus ellipsoidalis reportedly hybridizes with Q. rubra and Q. velutina.

The Menominee used Quercus ellipsoidalis medicinally to treat suppressed menses caused by cold (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Quercus chihuahuensis is a distinctive species throughout its range, mostly in dry montane western Mexico; it occurs in the United States only as putative hybrids with Q. grisea (the Eagle and Quitman mountains) and Q. arizonica (Hueco Tanks) in Texas.

(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
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. 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. 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
Synonyms Q. ellipsoidalis var. kaposianensis Q. infralutea, Q. jaliscensis, Q. santaclarensis
Name authority E. J. Hill: Bot. Gaz. 27: 204, plates 2, 3. (1899) Trelease: Mem. Natl. Acad. Sci. 20: 85. (1924)
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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