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Palmer oak, Palmer's oak

Mohr oak, Mohr's oak, Mohr's shinoak

Habit Shrubs or trees, evergreen or deciduous, shrubs erect, rhizomatous, trees small, 0.5-3 m. Bark pale, rough and deeply furrowed.
Twigs

yellowish or whitish, 1-2 mm diam., felty-tomentose.

Buds

dark red-brown, round-ovoid, 2 mm, glabrous, occasionally puberulent on outer scales, not subtended by persistent, hairy, subulate stipules.

Leaves

blade suborbiculate, elliptic to round-ovate, 20-30(-50) × 20-40 mm, crisped, leathery and brittle, base obtuse to strongly subcordate, secondary veins 5-8(-12) pairs, each terminating in spine, basal pairs recurving, others branching at 45° angles, raised abaxially, margins spinose-dentate to occasionally entire, with highly thickened cell walls, spines cartilaginous, (1-)1.5-2 mm, apex broadly rounded or subacute, spinose;

surfaces abaxially glaucous with waxy layer, often obscured by golden brown glandular hairs, adaxially grayish dark green, scurfy with fasciculate erect and twisting hairs.

blade usually strongly bicolored, oblong or elliptic, (15-)30-50(-80) × (10-)20-30(-35) mm, leathery, base rounded, rarely cuneate or cordulate, margins entire or toothed or denticulate, undulate or flat, secondary veins 8-9 on each side, apex rounded or acute;

surfaces abaxially densely gray- or white-tomentose with semi-erect curly, stellate hairs, secondary veins rather prominently raised, adaxially dark or dull green, lustrous or somewhat glaucous, with minute, scattered, semi-erect or appressed-stellate, (4-)6 or many rayed hairs, not felty to touch, secondary veins slightly raised or prominent within depressions.

Acorns

solitary or rarely paired;

cup turbinate to saucer-shaped, margins involute, often irregular, 7-10 mm deep × 10-25(-35) mm wide, scales appressed, embedded, often appearing laterally connate into concentric rings with only tip of scale visible, tuberculate, densely golden-tomentose throughout;

nut oblong to fusiform, 20-30 × 10-15 mm, apex acute.

solitary or paired, subsessile or peduncle sometimes 10-15 mm, tomentose like twigs;

cup shallowly to very deeply cup-shaped, 5-12 mm deep × 8-18 mm wide, enclosing 1/2 nut, base rounded or flat, margin thin, scales triangular-ovate to oblong, proximal scales coarsely tuberculate and canescent-tomentose, distal ones usually elongate and narrowed, tips appressed, reddish, thin, nearly glabrous;

nut light brown, ellipsoid to ovoid, 8-15 × 5-12 mm.

Cotyledons

connate.

Small

trees and shrubs, to 2-3 m. Twigs rigid, divaricately branched at 65-90° angles, reddish brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., pubescent, sparsely so in 2d year.

Terminal

buds ovoid, 1-1.5 mm, apex rounded, glabrous.

Quercus palmeri

Quercus mohriana

Phenology Flowering in spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Disjunct in canyons, mountain washes, dry thickets, and margins of chapparal communities Limestone hills and slopes, calcareous substrates
Elevation 700-1800 m (2300-5900 ft) 600-2500 m (2000-8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (n Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NM; OK; TX; Mexico (Coahuila)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Populations of Quercus palmeri are often small and may exist as single clones. The disjunct populations of California and Baja California are consistent morphologically. In Arizona populations, individuals tend to have flatter leaves bearing fewer teeth; this distinction is not constant, however. Morphologically aberrant populations identified as Q. palmeri in eastern Arizona (Chiracahua, Huachuca, and Santa Catalina mountains) and southwestern New Mexico are most likely the result of introgression from Q. palmeri to Q. chrysolepis (J. M. Tucker and H. S. Haskell 1960). Those populations tend to be intermediate in overall morphology, but all lack the diagnostic trichomes and biochemical markers of Q. palmeri; they are best classified as Q. chrysolepis affinity Q. palmeri.

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

Putative hybrids between Quercus mohriana Buckley and Q. grisea Liebmann are problematic and highly polymorphic. They are restricted to zones of contact between limestone, the preferred habitat of Q. mohriana, and igneous substrates, the preferred habitat of Q. grisea, or sometimes on dolomite, in western Texas.

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

Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Protobalanus 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. pacifica, Q. pagoda, 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. 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. dunnii
Name authority Engelmann: in S. Watson, Bot. California 2: 97. (1880) Buckley: in Rydberg, Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 2: 219. (1901)
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