The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

desert scrub oak, Tucker oak, Tucker's oak

interior live oak, Sierra live oak

Habit Shrubs, subevergreen or evergreen, 1-3(-5) m. Bark light gray or brown, scaly. Trees or shrubs, evergreen, to 22 m. Bark nearly black, deeply furrowed with broad scaly ridges.
Twigs

yellowish or dingy gray, 1-1.5(-2) mm diam., densely tomentulose.

brown to red-brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., glabrous or sparsely pubescent.

Buds

brown, ovoid or globose, 1.5-2(-3) mm, glabrous except for ciliate margins of scales;

proximal scales often yellowish puberulent.

Leaves

blade unicolored, elliptic or obovate, (10-)15-30(-40) × (8-)10-15(-20) mm, thick and leathery, often brittle, base truncate or rounded-attenuate, rarely subcordate, margins irregularly spinose-toothed, occasionally shallowly lobate, secondary veins (3-)4-7, often some veins branching near margin and passing into more than 1 tooth, apex acute or rounded;

surfaces abaxially waxy grayish, light green, or yellowish, sparse to moderately dense (8-)10-12-rayed, (loosely) appressed-stellate hairs, often 0.2-0.5 mm diam., and sparse to crowded, yellowish, glandular hairs, adaxially dull grayish, with stellate hairs, similar to abaxial surface.

blade circular to oblong, usually ovate, planar, 25-70 × 20-50 mm, base obtuse to cordate, margins entire or spinose with up to 16 awns, apex acute to rounded;

surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous, veins little raised on either surface.

Acorns

solitary or paired, subsessile;

cup cup-shaped or obconic to hemispheric, 5-7 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, thin, scales whitish or yellowish, moderately or scarcely tuberculate, puberulent;

nut fusiform, ovoid, or conic, 20-30 mm, apex acute.

biennial;

cup deeply and narrowly cup-shaped or U-shaped, 9-19 mm high × 7-18 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2(-2/3) nut, outer surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent, inner surface glabrous or pubescent on innermost 1/3, occasionally uniformly pubescent, scales acute, tips loose;

nut narrowly conic or ovoid to narrowly oblong, 21-44 × 8-14 mm, glabrous, scar diam. 2.5-7.5 mm.

Cotyledons

distinct.

Terminal

buds light chestnut brown to dark reddish brown, ovoid to conic, 3-9 mm, glabrous or with tuft of minute hairs at apex.

2n

= 24.

Quercus john-tuckeri

Quercus wislizenii

Phenology Flowering late spring.
Habitat Dry slopes, chaparral, pinyon and juniper woodlands, margins of oak woodlands and sagebrush Valleys, slopes, and sand chaparral
Elevation 900-2000 m (3000-6600 ft) 300-1900 m (1000-6200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Dry slopes, chaparral, pinyon and juniper woodlands, margins of oak woodlands and sagebrush; 900-2000 m; Calif.

Endemic to California, Quercus john-tuckeri occurs from Los Angeles County northward in the interior Coast Ranges and Sierra Foothills to the northern edge of Sacramento Valley.

Quercus john-tuckeri bears some resemblance to both Q. turbinella and Q. berberidifolia. Quercus turbinella has pedunculate fruit and cordate leaf bases, however, and Q. berberidifolia has a glabrate adaxial leaf surface, substantially smaller stellate trichomes with fewer rays on the abaxial leaf surface, heavier tuberculate acorn cups, and blunt or rounded (instead of acute) acorns.

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

Shrubs with oval leaves 25-38 mm and margins entire or deeply lobed-dentate may be treated as Quercus wislizenii var. frutescens. J. M. Tucker (1993) treated Q. parvula as a distinct species, distinguished from Q. wislizenii by its larger leaves (30-90 versus 20-50 mm), by the dull, olive-green, abaxial leaf surface (versus shiny, yellow-green), and by nuts that are abruptly tapered proximal to the middle (versus gradually tapered).

Tucker recognized two varieties of Quercus parvula: Q. parvula var. parvula is a shrub of 1-3 m and Q. parvula var. shrevei is a tree less than 17 m. S. K. Langer (1993) recognized a third variety, Q. parvula var. tamalpaisensis,based on several small populations on or near Mount Tamalpais, differentiated primarily by having larger leaves (50-160 × 20-60 mm) with attenuate-dentate margins.

Quercus wislizenii reportedly hybridizes with Q. agrifolia and Q. kelloggii (W. B. Brophy and D. R. Parnell 1974).

(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. Lobatae
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. 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. 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. 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
Synonyms Q. turbinella subsp. californica Q. parvula, Q. parvula var. shrevei, Q. parvula var. tamalpaisensis, Q. wislizenii var. frutescens
Name authority Nixon & C. H. Muller: Novon 4: 391. (1994) A. de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 16(2): 67. (1864)
Web links