Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus laceyi

huckleberry oak

lacey oak
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, deciduous, to 5-8(-10) m. Bark light colored, papery or scaly.
Twigs

gray, 1.5-2 mm diam., pubescent with erect stellate hairs, these soon shed, at maturity reddish and pruinose to tan and glabrous.
Buds

brown, ovoid to ovoid-lanceoloid, 1.5-3 × 1-2 mm, apex acute, glabrous.
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 blue-green, glaucous, obovate or elliptic, (20-)40-90(-210) × (20-)30-60(-110) mm, thin, base cuneate and decurrent on petiole to rounded or rarely somewhat cordate, margins thin, flat, entire to shallowly lobed or (rarely in shade forms) deeply lobed, lobes if present oblong, squarish, often retuse, secondary veins 6-9 on each side, each terminating in tooth or arching near margins, apex broadly rounded, retuse;

surfaces abaxially whitish, with erect stellate hairs, hairs shed as leaves expand, becoming glabrous, glaucous, adaxially glabrous, glaucous.
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.

annual, solitary or paired, subsessile or on short peduncle to 10(-20) mm in leaf axil;

cup saucer-shaped or shallowly cup-shaped, 4-7 mm deep × 10-12(-18) mm wide, enclosing 1/3 nut or less, scales moderately tuberculate, finely tomentose;

nut oblong or barrel-shaped, often flattened at both ends, (11-)13-15(-20) × 9-11(-14) mm.
Cotyledons

distinct.
Terminal

buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins.

Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus laceyi
Phenology Flowering in early summer. Flowering in spring.
Habitat Dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from montane coniferous zone to near treeline Limestone hills, woodlands and riparian forests, canyons and streamsides
Elevation 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) 350-2200 m (1100-7200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Coahuila and Nuevo León)
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Material from Texas and northeastern Mexico, excluding the type, has been incorrectly referred to Quercus glaucoides M. Martens & Galeotti by some authors (K. C. Nixon and C. H. Muller 1992).

On the Edwards Plateau of Texas, Quercus laceyi occurs mostly at 350-600 m elevation; in Coahuila and Nuevo León, it occurs at 1500-2200 m. This species is sometimes associated with remnant mesic forests, which include Acer grandidentatum Nuttall, Tilia species, Quercus muhlenbergii Engelmann, and various pine and other oak species. The leaves are shallowly lobed or entire, although occasional specimens on moist sites are deeply lobed and resemble the leaves of Q. alba in outline.

(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. 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. 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. 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. 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. breviloba subsp. laceyi
Name authority Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 358. (1901)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers