Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus myrtifolia |
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huckleberry oak |
myrtle 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, evergreen, to 12 m. Bark gray and smooth distally, dark and shallowly furrowed near base. |
Twigs | dark red-brown, 1-2.5(-3) mm diam., persistently pubescent, rarely almost 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 elliptic to narrowly or broadly obovate, occasionally spatulate, 15-50(-70) × 10-25(-35) mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire, somewhat revolute, with 1-4 awns, apex obtuse or rounded; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for axillary tufts of tomentum, occasionally yellow-scurfy, adaxial surface planar, glabrous. |
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 shallowly goblet-shaped, 4-7 mm high × 8.5-14.5 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface half to fully pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut broadly ovoid to globose, 9.5-14 × 8-13 mm, glabrate, scar diam. 5-8 mm. |
Terminal | buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
buds reddish to purplish brown, ovoid, 2-5.5 mm, glabrous or with tuft of tawny hairs at apex. |
Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus myrtifolia |
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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 | Dunes, hammocks, sandhills, dry sandy ridges, and oak scrub |
Elevation | 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) | 0-100 m (0-300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
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AL; FL; GA; MS; SC
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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.) |
This species flowers one to two weeks earlier than Q. inopina (A. F. Johnson and W. G. Abrahamson 1982). Quercus myrtifolia reportedly hybridizes with Q. incana (= Q. ×oviedoensis Sargent), but E. J. Palmer (1948) questioned the identification of the type specimen; the brief description by Sargent suggests that the specimen may be from an individual of Q. inopina. D. M. Hunt (1989) cited evidence of hybridization with Q. arkansana, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. inopina, Q. laurifolia, Q. marilandica, Q. nigra, and Q. pumila (Hunt suggested that the last may give rise to occasional reports of annual fruiting in Q. myrtifolia). (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 | ||
Name authority | Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) | Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 4(1): 424. (1805) |
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