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

Channel Island scrub oak, island scrub oak, Pacific oak

Boynton oak, Boynton sand post oak, Boynton's oak, Boynton's sand post oak

Habit Shrubs, rarely small trees, subevergreen, shrubs to 2 m, trees to 5 m or taller. Shrubs, rarely small trees, deciduous or subevergreen, shrubs low, under 2 m, often trailing, rhizomatous, trees to 6 m. Bark brown, scaly.
Bark

scaly on older branches and trunk.

Twigs

brownish or reddish, minutely puberulent, becoming glabrate and gray with age.

light brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., densely tomentulose.

Buds

light or chestnut brown, ovate or globose, 2-3 × 1-2 mm.

reddish brown, ovoid, 2-3(-4) mm, apex acute or rounded, sparsely pubescent.

Leaves

blade obovate or oblong, planar to moderately convex or undulate, 15-40 × 7-20(-40) mm, base cuneate or rounded, attenuate-decurrent along petiole, margins minutely cartilaginous, entire or with 1-5 irregular teeth on each side, secondary veins obscure, 1-5 on each side, apex blunt or rounded, occasionally subacute with mucronate tip;

surfaces abaxially waxy, glandular, with scattered minute, flat, appressed, ± 8-rayed stellate hairs, not obscuring surface, adaxially green, glossy, glabrate or with minute, scattered, stellate hairs.

blade obovate or oblanceolate, (39-)50-100(-125) × 20-60(-91) mm, base cuneate, margins minutely revolute, broadly 3-lobed distally or with 3-5 rounded, irregular lobes in distal 1/2, secondary veins curved, 6-8 on each side, apex broadly ovate or triangular-lobed;

surfaces abaxially grayish or silvery, densely tomentulose-glandular with minute, appressed-stellate hairs, adaxially dark green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, simple hairs.

Acorns

paired or solitary in leaf axil, subsessile, rarely pedunculate in teratological forms;

cup hemispheric to turbinate, to 15 mm deep × 20 mm wide, enclosing only 1/4-1/2 nut, scales moderately to heavily tuberculate, irregularly formed;

nut light brown, acute-cylindric or fusiform, tapered, (15-)20-30 × (6-)9-15 m, apex acute, glabrate.

1-2, on peduncle 2-10(-35) mm;

cup deeply or shallowly cup-shaped, 5-10 mm deep × 10-13 mm wide, including 1/3-1/2 nut, scales closely appressed, gray, tomentulose;

nut light brown, ovoid, 10-17 × 7-13 mm, apex rounded, glabrous.

Cotyledons

distinct.

distinct.

Quercus pacifica

Quercus boyntonii

Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Chaparral, oak woodlands, margins of grasslands, understory in closed-cone pine stands Deep sands and crevices in pine forests, along streams
Elevation 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Quercus pacifica is endemic on three of the California Channel Islands: Santa Cruz, Santa Catalina, and Santa Rosa. It is not known from the mainland, but it bears a superficial similarity to some of the tree forms that are putative hybrids between Q. engelmannii and Q. cornelius-mulleri in San Diego County. The latter populations, sometimes treated as Q. ×acutidens, differ in having much greater variability in leaf shape; thicker, more leathery leaves; denser abaxial leaf vestiture; much smaller hairs, having more than 10 rays; and variable levels of connation of cotyledons (always distinct in Q. pacifica). Quercus pacifica appears to be most closely related to Q. douglasii, whether by direct descent or by introgression with another species no longer extant on the islands.

Quercus ×macdonaldii Greene (as a species) [= Quercus dumosa var. macdonaldii (Greene) Jepson] is a stabilized hybrid complex between Quercus pacifica and Q. lobata Née. The plants tend to be small to moderate trees with leaves that resemble those of Q. lobata; the leaves are much more shallowly lobed and always less than two-thirds the distance from the margin to the midrib. Quercus ×macdonaldii is known from Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Catalina islands.

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

Of conservation concern.

Quercus boyntonii is a rare and poorly known species of somewhat uncertain distribution; probably it is often overlooked. Some intermediates between Q. boyntonii and Q. margaretta are known. These tend to be larger shrubs, to 2 m with felty hairs proximally but with the rhizomatous habit of Q. boyntonii.

(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. 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. 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. 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, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. dumosa var. polycarpa Q. stellata var. boyntonii
Name authority Nixon & C. H. Muller: Novon 4: 391. (1994) Beadle: Biltmore Bot. Stud. 1: 47. (1901)
Web links