Quercus engelmannii |
Quercus carmenensis |
|
---|---|---|
Engelmann oak, Engelmann's oak |
Mexican oak |
|
Habit | Trees, subevergreen, to 10 m. Bark gray or whitish, closely furrowed. | Shrubs or trees, deciduous, shrubs 0.5-2 m, rhizomatous, trees (on better sites) to 12 m, trunk 0.75 m diam. |
Bark | light gray, checkered or furrowed. |
|
Twigs | light brown, 1-1.5 mm diam., densely or sparsely stellate-tomentose, soon glabrate. |
often strikingly red, 1-1.5 mm diam., sparingly (rarely densely) stellate-pubescent, somewhat glabrescent and gray 2d year. |
Buds | reddish brown, subspheric to broadly ovoid, 1-2 mm, glabrous or basal scales pubescent; stipules persistent about terminal buds. |
light brown, nearly round, 1-1.5 mm, indumentum similar to twigs. |
Leaves | blade oblong to elliptic, occasionally lanceolate or ovate, (20-)30-60(-80) × (5-)10-20(-25) mm, base cuneate to cordate, margins entire, undulate, sometimes irregularly toothed, especially toward apex, secondary veins 7-8(-10) on each side, branched, apex acute or broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially blue-green or pale green, densely and loosely glandular-tomentose, quickly glabrate or persistently floccose, especially about base of midrib, at maturity strongly glaucous, adaxially gray-green or pale green, bluish green or glaucous. |
blade obovate or narrowly obovate, (20-)30-50 × 10-30 mm, thin to moderately leathery, base cuneate to rounded, margins shallowly and irregularly lobed or coarsely toothed in distal 1/2, rarely subentire, teeth mucronate, secondary veins 9-12 on each side, branching or passing directly to teeth, apex acute, sometimes broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially light green or yellow-green, prominently pubescent with minute, erect velvety hairs, adaxially surfaces dark green, sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent. |
Acorns | solitary or paired, subsessile or on peduncle to 5-6 mm; cup cup-shaped or shallowly cup-shaped, 8-10 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, enclosing 1/3 nut, scales 1.5-3 mm wide, strongly and regularly tuberculate near base of cup, gray-pubescent; nut light brown, ovoid or oblong, 15-25 × 12-14 mm, glabrate or puberulent about apex. |
solitary or paired, subsessile or short-pedunculate (immature); cup (mature) unknown; scales (immature) light brown, tip acute, canescent. |
Cotyledons | connate. |
unknown. |
Nut | unknown. |
|
2n | = 24. |
|
Quercus engelmannii |
Quercus carmenensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering in spring. | |
Habitat | Oak woodlands, margins of chaparral, arroyos, slopes and bajadas | Shrublands and woodlands on limestone |
Elevation | 50-1200 m (200-3900 ft) | 2200-2500 m (7200-8200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila) |
Discussion | Quercus engelmannii is closely related to and possibly conspecific with Q. oblongifolia. The cups of Q. engelmannii are larger, deeper, and generally more tuberculate than those of Q. oblongifolia, and the scales are usually larger. Based on available samples, the nuts of Q. engelmannii are consistently larger than those of Q. oblongifolia, apparently with little, if any, overlap in diameter. Considerably more variation occurs within Q. engelmannii in leaf form, possibly reflecting introgression from other white oak species such as Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. dumosa, and Q. durata (see treatment). On Catalina Island, Quercus engelmannii is known only from a small grove of trees. Putative hybrids between Q. engelmannii and Q. cornelius-mulleri are common in areas of contact between the two species in Riverside and San Diego counties in southern California. Such a population was the basis for Q. acutidens Torrey [Q. dumosa var. acutidens (Torrey) Wenzig]. Other names applied to those populations are Q. macdonaldii var. elegantula Greene and Q. dumosa var. elegantula (Greene) Jepson. Variable in leaf form and stature, those intermediates form extensive populations and are probably best disposed of under the name Q. ×acutidens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Shrublands and woodlands on limestone; of conservation concern; 2200-2500 m; Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila). Quercus carmenensis is known in the United States from only one collection from the Chisos Mountains, Texas; otherwise, it is known in the Sierra del Carmen region, Coahuila, Mexico. (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 | ||
Name authority | Greene: Ill. W. Amer. Oaks 1: 33, plate 17. (1889) | C. H. Muller: Amer. Midl. Naturalist 18: 847. (1937) |
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