Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus ilicifolia |
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huckleberry oak |
bear oak, scrub 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. | Trees or shrubs, deciduous, to 6 m. Bark dark gray, becoming shallowly fissured and scaly, inner bark pinkish. |
Twigs | brown or yellowish brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., pubescent. |
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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 ovate to elliptic or obovate, 50-120 × 30-90 mm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins with 3-7 acute lobes separated by shallow sinuses and 5-14 awns, apex acute; surfaces abaxially pale green to gray, tomentose, adaxially glossy dark green, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. |
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. |
biennial; cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 5-9 mm high × 10.5-17 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3(-1/2) nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut ovoid to subglobose, 9.5-16 × 8-11 mm, striate, puberulent, scar diam. 4.8-7 mm. |
Terminal | buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
buds dark reddish brown, ovoid, 2-4.5 mm, apex puberulent. |
2n | = 24. |
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Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus ilicifolia |
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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 | Dry, sandy soils and open rocky outcrops |
Elevation | 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
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CT; DE; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; PA; RI; VA; VT; WV
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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.) |
Quercus ilicifolia reportedly hybridizes with Q. coccinea, Q. falcata, Q. imbricaria, Q. marilandica, Q. phellos, Q. rubra, and Q. velutina. The Iroquois considered Quercus ilicifolia very helpful in treating gynecological problems (D. E. Moerman 1986). (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. nana | |
Name authority | Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) | Wangenheim: Beytr. Teut. Forstwiss., 79, plate 6, fig. 17. (1787) |
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