Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus grisea |
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huckleberry oak |
gray oak |
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Habit | Shrubs, low spreading to often prostrate, to 1.5 m. Twigs branching at 45° angles or less, reddish brown, 1-1.5 mm diam., flexible, glabrous to sparsely pubesent. | |
Twigs | gray, 1-2 mm diam., sparsely or densely stellate-tomentulose or tomentose when young. |
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Buds | dark red-brown, ovoid to subglobose, 1-2 mm, stellate hairs causing yellowish color, at least on outer scales; stipules persistent, 1-4, subulate, pubescent, at base of terminal buds. |
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Leaves | blade oblong-ovate, 10-35 × 7-15 mm, flat, thin, leathery, base slightly rounded to acute, secondary veins inconspicuous, 6-8 pairs, branching at 45-60° angles, with weakly thickened cell walls, margins entire or indistinctly and irregularly mucronately toothed, apex acute or rarely obtuse; surfaces abaxially whitish green with waxy layer, glabrous or slightly pubescent with stellate hairs, adaxially dull gray-green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with stellate hairs. |
blade oblong to elliptic or ovate, (15-)25-35(-80) × (7-)15-30(-40) mm, thick and leathery, base cordate or rounded, margins minutely revolute, entire or dentate with mucronate teeth, secondary veins 6-10 on each side, branched, apex acute, sometimes obtuse, rarely rounded; surfaces abaxially dull gray-green or yellowish, minutely stellate-pubescent with interlocking hairs, secondary veins very prominent, adaxially dull green, very sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent, secondary veins slightly raised. |
Acorns | solitary or rarely paired; cup shallowly saucer-shaped to slightly turbinate, 3-4 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, scales appressed, slightly embedded, moderately silvery brown-pubescent; nut ovoid, 8-17 × 5-10 mm, apex acute; nut scar to 3 mm diam. |
solitary or paired, subsessile or on peduncle 0-30 mm; cup from deeply goblet- to deeply cup-shaped, 4-10 mm deep × 8-15 mm wide, enclosing to 1/2 nut, scales broadly ovate to oblong, proximal scales slightly or markedly tuberculate and whitish canescent, tips closely appressed, red-brown, thin, glabrate; nut light brown, ovoid to narrowly ovoid or ellipsoid, 12-18 × 8-12 mm. |
Cotyledons | connate. |
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Terminal | buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
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Large | shrubs or moderate trees, deciduous or subevergreen, to 10 m. Bark gray, fissured. |
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Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus grisea |
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Phenology | Flowering in early summer. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from montane coniferous zone to near treeline | Igneous or dolomitic slopes, oak woodlands, juniper woodlands, desert chaparral |
Elevation | 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) | usually above 1500 m (usually above 4900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
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AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango)
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Discussion | Typical high-elevation populations in the Sierra Nevada of California can be distinguished from all shrubby forms of Quercus chrysolepis by the absence of glandular trichomes and by thin cups with small nut-attachment scars. At lower elevations in northern California and southwestern Oregon, secondary contact with Q. chrysolepis has resulted in the formation of hybrids. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Some of the specimens referred to Quercus endemica by C. H. Muller should be placed in Q. grisea. Numerous hybrids between Quercus grisea and other white oaks, including Q. gambelii, Q. mohriana, Q. arizonica, and numerous species in northern Mexico, have been reported. In the Hueco and Quitman mountains of trans-Pecos Texas, putative hybrids of Q. grisea × Q. turbinella Greene occur. (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 | ||
Synonyms | Q. undulata var. grisea | |
Name authority | Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) | Liebmann: Overs. Kongel. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Forh. Medlemmers Arbeider 1854: 171. (1854) |
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