Quercus lobata |
Quercus intricata |
|
---|---|---|
California white oak, roble, valley oak |
dwarf oak, intricate oak |
|
Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 25(-35) m, usually with solitary trunks. | Shrubs, evergreen, clonal, intricately branched. |
Bark | gray, scaly, deeply checkered in age. |
gray, scaly. |
Twigs | yellowish, gray, occasionally reddish, 2-4 mm diam., densely or sparsely tomentulose. |
gray- or yellow-tomentose, darkened, 1-1.5 mm diam., persistently pubescent for several seasons. |
Buds | yellowish or light brown, ovoid, (2-)3-5(-6) mm, apex occasionally acute, densely pubescent. |
dark reddish brown, 1-1.5 mm, apex round, sparsely pubescent to glabrate. |
Leaves | blade broadly obovate or elliptic, moderately to deeply lobed, (40-)50-100(-120) × 30-60(-75) mm, base rounded-attenuate, cuneate, or truncate, rarely subcordate, margins with sinuses usually reaching more than 1/2 distance to midrib, lobes oblong or spatulate, obtuse, rounded, or blunt, secondary veins 5-10 on each side, apex broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially whitish or light green, densely to sparsely covered with interlocking appressed or semi-erect, 8-10(-14)-rayed stellate hairs, adaxially dark green or grayish, glossy or somewhat scurfy because of sparse stellate hairs. |
blade oblong, sometimes ovate, often strongly cupped, 10-25 × 5-13 mm, extremely thick, leathery, base cuneate to cordate, margins very coarsely revolute, often undulate-crisped, entire, rarely with a few teeth, secondary veins 8 or 9 on each side, apex acute or obtuse; surfaces abaxially brownish or buff, persistently tomentose with erect curly hairs, rarely glabrate in 2d season, midribs (and sometimes principal veins) glabrous and brown against tomentum, secondary veins sometimes prominently raised, usually obscured by tomentum, adaxially dark or gray-green, lustrous, sparsely or moderately stellate-pubescent, secondary veins impressed. |
Acorns | solitary or paired, subsessile; cup deeply cup-shaped, hemispheric or turbinate, rim thick, 10-30 mm deep × 14-30 mm wide, scales grayish or cream, more acute near rim, strongly and irregularly tuberculate, especially toward base of cup; nut light brown, oblong or fusiform, 30-60 × (12-)15-25 mm, tapering to acute or rounded apex. |
solitary or paired, subsessile or on peduncle to 15 mm; cup deeply cup-shaped, 7-8 mm deep × ca. 10 mm wide, base round, margin thin, scales ovate or narrower, proximally canescent-tomentose, moderately or markedly tuberculate, tips closely appressed, reddish, thin, nearly glabrous; nut light brown, ovoid, 9-12 × 8-10 mm. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
connate. |
Quercus lobata |
Quercus intricata |
|
Phenology | Flowering late winter–early spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Valley floors and moderate slopes, open grasslands, savannah and oak woodlands, riparian areas in chaparral | Open chaparral and pinyon-oak woodland, on dry, rocky, limestone slopes (in Mexico also on gypsophilous soils) |
Elevation | 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft) | 1500-2500 m (4900-8200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, and Zacatecas) |
Discussion | Mature trees of Quercus lobata are among the largest oaks of the United States. The species hybridizes with numerous other species, but the hybrids are not common in most parts of its range. On Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina islands, however, occur extensive and relatively stable populations that show intermediate characteristics with Q. pacifica (see treatment). The hybrids have been given the name Q. ×macdonaldii, and they differ from Q. lobata in the following: leaf sinuses reaching less than half the distance to the midrib; leaves usually smaller, the lobes often more acute and brighter green; and acorns smaller, with more acute apices. The Yuri used Quercus lobata in the treatment of diarrhea (D. E. Moerman 1986). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Quercus intricata, a fairly common element of the mountains of the Chihuahuan Desert region, is known in the United States only from two localities: a population in the Chisos Mountains and another in the Eagle Mountains of west Texas. (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 | ||
Synonyms | Q. hindsii, Q. lobata var. hindsii, Q. longiglanda | |
Name authority | Nee.: Anales Ci. Nat. 3: 277. (1801) | Trelease: Mem. Natl. Acad. Sci. 20: 84. (1924) |
Web links |