Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus fusiformis

Quercus minima

escarpment live oak, live oak, plateau oak, Texas live oak

dwarf live oak, minimal oak
Habit Trees, sometimes shrubs, subevergreen, trees to 25 m, shrubs often forming large clonal stands. Shrubs, subevergreen or evergreen, low, rhizomatous, forming clonal patches of straight, often unbranched stems 0.2-0.7(-2) m. Bark light gray or brown, smooth.
Bark

dark brown or black, scaly.

Twigs

light gray, 1.5-3 mm diam., tomentulose, tomentulum often persistent in age.

light gray, 1.5-3 mm diam., glabrous or very finely tomentulose and glabrate in 2d year.
Buds

reddish or dark brown, subglobose or ovate, 1.5-3 mm;

scale margins glabrous or puberulent.

dark gray-brown, globose, 0.5-1(-1.5) mm;

scale margins glabrous or puberulent.
Leaves

blade oblong-elliptic to narrowly ovate or lanceolate, sometimes obovate, ± planar, (10-)35-90(-150) × (15-)20-40(-85) mm, base rounded to truncate or cordate, rarely cuneate, margins minutely revolute or flat, entire or irregularly 1-3 toothed on each side, teeth mucronate (rarely spinose in suckers or juveniles), secondary veins obscure, 8-10 on each side, apex obtuse-rounded or acute;

surfaces abaxially whitish or glaucous, densely covered with minute, appressed, fused-stellate hairs, light green and glabrate in shade leaves, adaxially dark or light green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, stellate hairs.

blade obovate to oblanceolate, sometimes orbiculate or lance-ovate, often asymmetric, 40-120 × 20-50 mm proximally on shoots, narrowly elliptic, 20-60 × 5-20 mm distally on shoots, base cuneate, rarely truncate or cordate, margins minutely revolute or flat, coarsely and irregularly 1-5 toothed on each side (proximal leaves of shoots) or entire (distal leaves on shoots), teeth mucronate (rarely spinose in suckers or juveniles), secondary veins obscure, 4-10(-12) on each side, usually 4-6 in proximal leaves, apex obtuse-rounded or acute;

surfaces abaxially whitish or glaucous, densely covered with minute, appressed, fused-stellate hairs, light green and glabrate in shade leaves, adaxially dark or light green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, stellate hairs.
Acorns

1-3, on peduncle 3-30 mm;

cup funnel-shaped, hemispheric, or deeply goblet-shaped, 8-15 mm deep × 6-12(-15) mm wide, base often constricted, scales whitish or grayish, thickened basally, keeled, acute-attenuate, tomentulose, tips reddish, glabrous or puberulent;

nut dark brown, often with light brown longitudinal stripes, subfusiform and acute to narrowly barrel-shaped, rarely distally rounded, (17-)20-30(-33) × 8-15 mm, glabrous.

1-3, on peduncle 3-30 mm;

cup hemispheric or deeply goblet-shaped, (8-)10-15 mm deep × 6-15 mm wide, base often constricted, scales whitish or grayish, thickened basally, keeled, acute-attenuate, tomentulose, tips reddish, glabrous or puberulent;

nut dark brown, narrowly ovoid or subcylindric, 13-22(-25) × 8-15 mm, glabrous.
Cotyledons

connate.

connate.

Quercus fusiformis

Quercus minima
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Hills, grasslands, scrublands, open woodlands, oak-juniper woodland, and margins of thorn scrub, often on limestone or deep calcareous loams, sometimes on granular sand or gravel Coastal plain, open evergreen woodlands and scrublands on deep sandy soils, often as understory with pines
Elevation 0-1200 m (0-3900 ft) 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
OK; TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; GA; MS; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The difficulty in distinguishing Texas populations of Quercus fusiformis from Q. virginiana is reflected in a variety of taxonomic treatments, including reducing Q. fusiformis to varietal rank under Q. virginiana. The latter disposition is problematic, however, because Q. fusiformis in northeastern Mexico is amply distinct from Q. virginiana and appears to be more closely related to Q. brandegei Goldmann, an endemic of Baja California, Mexico. Thus, here we assume that the intergradation of Q. virginiana and Q. fusiformis is a result of secondary contact, and is not primary clinal variation. Under this interpretation, Q. virginiana in typical form extends into Texas only as far west as the Brazos River drainage along the coast from there to the escarpment of the Edwards Plateau; most populations elsewhere are either intermediate between the two species or show greater affinity with Q. fusiformis. On the Edwards Plateau, the live oak populations are small trees forming rhizomatous copses (shinneries) and having mostly acute acorns.

Populations of live oak on deep sands in south Texas differ from typical Quercus fusiformis in having broader, more rounded leaves, often with the secondary veins somewhat impressed abaxially, and relatively blunt, barrel-shaped acorns. These characteristics suggest introgresion from the Mexican-Central American species Q. oleoides Schlechtendal & Chamisso, which in its typical form reaches north only as far as southern Tamaulipas, Mexico. The name Q. oleoides var. quaterna C. H. Muller has been applied to what is apparently a shrub form of one of these Q. fusiformis × Q. oleoides hybrids.

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

Quercus minima is one of the most distinctive oaks of southeastern United States in morphology, habit, and habitat. It is one of our most strongly rhizomatous species, and it flowers and fruits as early as three years from seed, on vertical stems as small as 0.2-0.3 m. Other related live oaks of Quercus series Virentes (see C. H. Muller 1961) can produce rhizomatous clonal patches as well, but these typically do not bear fruit, are usually associated with large shrub or tree forms, and probably represent response to fire and/or drought conditions. Because of the juvenile phases in other live oaks that may resemble Q. minima, it is necessary to evaluate form and reproductive capacity within populations to identify those species accurately.

Putative hybrid swarms between Quercus minima and Q. chapmanii occur along the eastern side of Florida. These are rhizomatous shrubs with leaves somewhat intermediate between the two parents. The leaves are broadly rounded apically and basally, and sparsely stellate abaxially. The fruit resembles that of Q. minima. Material of such affinity, but with larger nuts (to 25 mm), was the basis for Q. rolfsii Small. More data on variation in cotyledon fusion in the putative hybrid swarms would be useful because Q. minima has connate cotyledons and those of Q. chapmanii are distinct.

Quercus minima has been reported from coastal Texas (C. H. Muller 1970), but that material is probably best referred to Q. fusiformis and possible introgressants from Q. virginiana and Q. oleoides. Typical Q. minima is not known from west of Mississippi. The Texas populations that have been referred here lack leaf dimorphism, leaf shape, and venation of Q. minima. Instead, they seem to be part of an extremely variable complex of erect shrubs, rhizomatous shrubs, and trees that have leaves varying in form between those of Q. fusiformis and Q. oleoides (e.g., the type of Q. oleoides var. quaterna C. H. Muller). If Q. minima occurred on the Texas coast in the past, its presence there has been so diluted by introgression that it is not now recognizable by the very distinctive and reliable characteristics that are used to identify it.

(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
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. 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. 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. 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. virginiana var. fusiformis Q. virginiana var. minima, Q. virens var. dentata, Q. virginiana var. dentata
Name authority Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 357. (1901) (Sargent) Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 438. (1897)
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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