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California black oak, Kellogg oak

Chihuahua oak, Chihuahuan oak, felt oak

Habit Trees, deciduous, to 25 m. Bark dark brown to black, ridges broad, irregular. Shrubs or trees, deciduous, to 10 m. Bark gray, furrowed, checkered, or scaly.
Twigs

brown to red-brown, (1.5-)2-3.5 mm diam., glabrate.

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 ovate or broadly elliptic to obovate, 60-200 × 40-140 mm, base cordate to obtuse, occasionally rounded, margins with 7-11 lobes and 13-45 awns, lobes acute to distally expanded, separated by deep sinuses, apex acute;

surfaces abaxially glabrous with small axillary tufts of tomentum to densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous to minutely pubescent, 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 saucer-shaped to deeply bowl-shaped, 13-27 mm high × 20-28 mm wide, covering 1/2-2/3 nut, outer surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent, inner surface 1/3 to completely pubescent, scales more than 4 mm long, attenuate or acuminate to acute, smooth, occasionally tuberculate near base of cup, tips loose, especially at margin of cup;

nut oblong to broadly ellipsoid, 21-34 × 14-22 mm, puberulent, especially at apex, scar diam. 5.5-10.5 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 chestnut brown, ovoid, 4-10 mm, glabrous or with scales ciliate on margins.

2n

= 24.

Quercus kelloggii

Quercus chihuahuensis

Phenology Flowering late spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat On slopes and valleys of hills and mountains Oak and pinyon-juniper woodlands, grassy hills, sometimes extending into dry thorn scrub and bursera woodland (Mexico)
Elevation 300-2400 m (1000-7900 ft) 400-2000 m (1300-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The abundant crops of acorns from Quercus kelloggii were at one time an important food source for Native Americans.

The species reportedly hybridizes with Quercus agrifolia (= Q. ×ganderi C. B. Wolf) and Q. wislizenii (= Q. ×morehus Kellogg).

(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. 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. 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. californica, Q. tinctoria var. californica Q. infralutea, Q. jaliscensis, Q. santaclarensis
Name authority Newberry: Pacif. Railr. Rep. 6: 28, 89, fig. 6. (1859) Trelease: Mem. Natl. Acad. Sci. 20: 85. (1924)
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