Quercus tomentella |
Quercus wislizenii |
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Channel Island oak, island live oak, island oak |
interior live oak, Sierra live oak |
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Habit | Trees, to 20 m. Twigs branching at 45° angles, reddish brown, 3-4 mm diam., somewhat rigid, densely tomentose, persistent into 2d year. | Trees or shrubs, evergreen, to 22 m. Bark nearly black, deeply furrowed with broad scaly ridges. |
Twigs | brown to red-brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., glabrous or sparsely pubescent. |
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Leaves | blade wavy or distinctly concave, oblong-lanceolate or elliptic, acuminate, (30-)70-10(-120) × 25-40 mm, leathery and brittle, base obtuse to cordate, secondary veins 8-10(-12) pairs, branching at 45-50° angles, strongly pinnate, raised abaxially, often sunken adaxially, margins often strongly revolute, with slightly thickened cell walls, entire or crenate to dentate with mucronate teeth, apex rounded or acute, mucronate; surfaces abaxially densely tomentose with whitish nonglandular hairs, midrib pilose, adaxially glossy dark green, sparsely pubescent. |
blade circular to oblong, usually ovate, planar, 25-70 × 20-50 mm, base obtuse to cordate, margins entire or spinose with up to 16 awns, apex acute to rounded; surfaces abaxially and adaxially glabrous, veins little raised on either surface. |
Acorns | solitary or rarely paired; cup shallowly cup-shaped, 4-8 mm deep × 15-30 mm wide, scales laterally connate, appressed, deeply imbedded in tomentum, with only thin, brown, elongated apices visible, tuberculate, densely whitish brown tomentose throughout; nut ovoid, 20-30 × 15-20 mm, apex rounded. |
biennial; cup deeply and narrowly cup-shaped or U-shaped, 9-19 mm high × 7-18 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2(-2/3) nut, outer surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent, inner surface glabrous or pubescent on innermost 1/3, occasionally uniformly pubescent, scales acute, tips loose; nut narrowly conic or ovoid to narrowly oblong, 21-44 × 8-14 mm, glabrous, scar diam. 2.5-7.5 mm. |
Terminal | buds conic, 7-10 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
buds light chestnut brown to dark reddish brown, ovoid to conic, 3-9 mm, glabrous or with tuft of minute hairs at apex. |
2n | = 24. |
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Quercus tomentella |
Quercus wislizenii |
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Phenology | Flowering in spring, occasionally in fall. | Flowering late spring. |
Habitat | Lower portions of steep canyons and occasionally ridge tops | Valleys, slopes, and sand chaparral |
Elevation | 100-650 m (300-2100 ft) | 300-1900 m (1000-6200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California and on Guadalupe Island)
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CA
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Discussion | The insular endemic Quercus tomentella is a relict as evidenced by its widespread representation in mainland late Tertiary fossil floras. Hybridization with Q. chrysolepis is apparent on the Channel Islands: Santa Catalina, Santa Cruz, and possibly San Clemente and Anacapa. Putative hybrids have been observed in narrow zones of contact on the islands of Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina. On those islands, taxonomically distinct individuals of Q. chrysolepis occur at the highest elevations, whereas Q. tomentella generally is found in moist canyons at lower elevations. Populations of Channel Island oak are in decline because of overgrazing and poor seedling recruitment. The greatest number of populations occur on Santa Rosa Island, and those are taxonomically and genetically noteworthy because Q. chrysolepis apparently is absent from the island. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Shrubs with oval leaves 25-38 mm and margins entire or deeply lobed-dentate may be treated as Quercus wislizenii var. frutescens. J. M. Tucker (1993) treated Q. parvula as a distinct species, distinguished from Q. wislizenii by its larger leaves (30-90 versus 20-50 mm), by the dull, olive-green, abaxial leaf surface (versus shiny, yellow-green), and by nuts that are abruptly tapered proximal to the middle (versus gradually tapered). Tucker recognized two varieties of Quercus parvula: Q. parvula var. parvula is a shrub of 1-3 m and Q. parvula var. shrevei is a tree less than 17 m. S. K. Langer (1993) recognized a third variety, Q. parvula var. tamalpaisensis,based on several small populations on or near Mount Tamalpais, differentiated primarily by having larger leaves (50-160 × 20-60 mm) with attenuate-dentate margins. Quercus wislizenii reportedly hybridizes with Q. agrifolia and Q. kelloggii (W. B. Brophy and D. R. Parnell 1974). (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. Lobatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. parvula, Q. parvula var. shrevei, Q. parvula var. tamalpaisensis, Q. wislizenii var. frutescens | |
Name authority | Engelmann: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 3: 393. (1877) | A. de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 16(2): 67. (1864) |
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