Quercus pagoda |
Quercus hinckleyi |
|
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cherrybark oak, Texas oak |
Hinckley oak |
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Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 40 m. Bark nearly black with narrow and noticeably flaky ridges, often resembling that of wild black cherry, inner bark orange. | Shrubs, evergreen, low, to 0.75(-1.5) m, spreading rhizomatously in thickets, intricately branched. |
Bark | gray, scaly. |
|
Twigs | yellowish brown, 2-3.5 mm diam., pubescent. |
light brown, pruinose, becoming waxy-glaucous in 2d season, 1-1.5 mm diam., glabrous or sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent. |
Buds | minute, subrotund, 0.5-1 mm; scales reddish brown, glabrous except for ciliate margins. |
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Leaves | blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 90-300 × 60-160 mm, base cuneate to rounded or truncate, margins with 5-11 lobes and 10-25 awns, lobes oblong, rarely falcate, terminal lobe rarely exceeding lateral lobes in length, apex acute; surfaces abaxially pale, tomentose, adaxially glossy, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. |
blade subrotund or rotund, to 15 × 15 mm, thick, leathery, base cordate or auriculate, margins strongly crisped with 2-3 coarse, spinescent teeth on each side, cartilaginous-thickened secondary veins obscure, apex acute or obtuse, spine-tipped; surfaces abaxially blue-green, glaucous, glabrous, microscopically markedly papillose, adaxially blue-green, glaucous, glabrous, secondary veins slightly raised on both surfaces. |
Acorns | biennial; cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 3-7 mm high × 10-18 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut subglobose, 9-15 × 8-16 mm, often striate, puberulent, scar diam. 5-9 mm. |
solitary, subsessile or on axillary peduncle to 4 mm; cup shallow, saucer-shaped, 1-3 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, enclosing base of nut only, margin irregularly undulate, scales closely appressed, minute, basally tuberculate-thickened, glabrous except for thin ciliate margins; nut ovoid, 10-20 × 8-12 mm, glabrous. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
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Terminal | buds light reddish brown, ovoid, 4-9 mm, strongly 5-angled in cross section, puberulent throughout. |
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Quercus pagoda |
Quercus hinckleyi |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Poorly drained bottoms and mesic slopes | On dry desert slopes |
Elevation | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) | 1150-1400 m (3800-4600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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TX; Mexico |
Discussion | Quercus pagoda is often treated as a variety of Q. falcata; it is quite distinctive, however, both morphologically and ecologically (S. A. Ware 1967; R. J. Jensen 1989). This species reportedly hybridizes with Q. falcata and Q. phellos (D. M. Hunt 1989). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. This species is known only from two sites in the United States, El Solitario and near Shafter, Texas. The Shafter population includes some individuals with characteristics that suggest hybridization with Quercus pungens Liebmann. These plants are larger, with more pubescent twigs and leaves, and hemispheric acorn cups to 10 mm deep. Such plants have recently been collected in adjacent Mexico. Fossil evidence from packrat middens indicates Q. hinckleyi probably had a broader distribution and was a dominant shrub between 19,000 and 9500 years ago. (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 | ||
Synonyms | Q. falcata var. leucophylla, Q. falcata var. pagodifolia, Q. leucophylla, Q. pagodifolia | |
Name authority | Rafinesque: Alsogr. Amer., 23. (1838) | C. H. Muller: Contr. Texas Res. Found., Bot. Stud. 1: 40. (1951) |
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