Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus oglethorpensis |
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huckleberry oak |
Oglethorpe 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, deciduous, to 18(-25) m. Bark light gray or whitish, scaly. |
Twigs | brownish red, ca. 1 mm diam., sparsely pubescent, glabrate with age. |
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Buds | reddish brown, globose, to 2-2.5 mm, sparsely pubescent or 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 narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, ± planar, not strongly convexly cupped, 50-150 × 20-45 mm, base cuneate to cordate, margins entire or on vigorous shoots sometimes sinuate near apex, secondary veins 3-5 on each side, apex rounded, obtuse or broadly acute; surfaces abaxially yellowish green, covered with persistent velvety branched hairs, adaxially dark green, dull or glossy, sparsely stellate, often somewhat sandpapery with harsh hairs. |
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. |
1-2, subsessile or on peduncle to 7 mm; cup turbinate, somewhat constricted proximally, 8 mm deep × 10 mm wide, enclosing 1/3 nut or more, scales closely appressed, finely tan-pubescent; nut gray brown, ovoid, 9-11 × (5-)7-9 mm, finely puberulent. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
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Terminal | buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
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Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus oglethorpensis |
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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 | Alluvial flatwoods and streamsides in rich woods, low pastures, and edge of bottomland forests |
Elevation | 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) | 0-200 m (0-700 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
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GA; LA; MS; SC |
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.) |
Of conservation concern. Since its original discovery in 1940 in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, Quercus oglethorpensis has been found to be more common locally near the type site in Georgia and South Carolina than originally thought. It remains one of the least-known oak species of the southeastern United States. Quercus oglethorpensis is one of our most distinctive eastern oaks, easily recognized by its narrow, entire, abaxially felty leaves. (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 | ||
Name authority | Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) | Duncan: Amer. Midl. Naturalist 24: 755. (1940) |
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