Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus ellipsoidalis

Quercus hinckleyi

Hill's oak, Jack oak, northern pin oak

Hinckley oak
Habit Trees, deciduous, to 20 m; lower trunk often with stubs of dead branches. Shrubs, evergreen, low, to 0.75(-1.5) m, spreading rhizomatously in thickets, intricately branched.
Bark

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

gray, scaly.
Twigs

dark reddish brown, (1-)1.5-3 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.
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 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 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.

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.
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 hinckleyi
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Dry sandy sites, rarely on moderately mesic slopes or uplands On dry desert slopes
Elevation 150-500 m (500-1600 ft) 1150-1400 m (3800-4600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
IA; IL; IN; MI; MN; OH; WI; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico
[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.)

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
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. 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. 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
Name authority E. J. Hill: Bot. Gaz. 27: 204, plates 2, 3. (1899) C. H. Muller: Contr. Texas Res. Found., Bot. Stud. 1: 40. (1951)
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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