Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus laurifolia |
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huckleberry oak |
diamond-leaf oak, laurel oak, obtusa oak, swamp laurel oak, water 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, tardily deciduous, to 40 m. Bark dark brown to black, ridges flat, furrows deep. |
Twigs | red-brown, (1-)1.5-2.5 mm diam., glabrous. |
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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 rhombic or broadly elliptic to obovate, occasionally oblong or spatulate, 30-120 × 15-45 mm, thin, base attenuate or cuneate, rarely obtuse, margins entire with 1 apical awn, apex obtuse or rounded; surfaces abaxially glabrous, adaxially glabrous, veins 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. |
biennial; cup shallowly saucer-shaped to deeply bowl-shaped, 3.5-9 mm high × 11-17 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/2 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent at least 1/2 distance to rim, scale tips appressed, acute or attenuate; nut globose or ovoid, 8.5-16 × 10-16 mm, glabrate, scar diam. 6.5-11.5 mm. |
Terminal | buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
buds dark red-brown, ovoid to subconic, 2.5-6 mm, distinctly 5-angled in cross section, glabrous or with tuft of reddish hairs at apex. |
Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus laurifolia |
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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 | Sandy flood plains and bottoms, riverbanks, and terraces, occasionally on poorly drained uplands |
Elevation | 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) | 0-150 m (0-500 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
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AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
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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 laurifolia apparently flowers two weeks earlier than sympatric Quercus hemisphaerica (W. H. Duncan and M. B. Duncan 1988). It reportedly hybridizes with Q. falcata, Q. incana, and Q. nigra (H. A. Fowells 1965); with Q. hemisphaerica, Q. marilandica, Q. myrtifolia, Q. phellos, and Q. shumardii (D. M. Hunt 1989); and with Q. velutina. (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. obtusa, Q. rhombica | |
Name authority | Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) | Michaux: Hist. Chênes Amér., no. 10, plate 17. (1801) |
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