Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus sect. Protobalanus

huckleberry oak

golden-cup oaks, intermediate oaks
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.
Bark

grayish white to reddish brown, scaly to smooth with furrows.
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 never lobed, margins entire or toothed, teeth if present usually spinose.
Staminate flowers

calyx 5-6-lobed;

anthers attenuate-apiculate.
Pistillate flowers

calyx adnate to ovary, not forming flange;

styles short and dilated to long and abruptly enlarged.
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.

maturation biennial;

cup pedunculate, cup scales distinct or laterally connate, base thickened and corky (tuberculate);

nut with inner wall densely to sparsely tomentose, abortive ovules apical to lateral or basal, sometimes variable within individual plants, seed coats adhering to seed, sometimes to fruit wall at maturity.
Cotyledons

distinct.
Terminal

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

Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus sect. Protobalanus
Phenology Flowering in early summer.
Habitat Dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from montane coniferous zone to near treeline
Elevation 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
sw North America and nw Mexico
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 Linneaus subg. Protobalanus Trelease in P. C. Standley, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 23: 176. 1922

Measurements for the cup of the acorn in the next two sections is for depth of cup, not height.

Species 5 (4 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Twigs rigid, 1.5–3 mm diam., branching at 65–90° angles; cup scales obscured, laterally connate into concentric rings; nut oblong to fusiform.
Q. palmeri
1. Twigs flexible, if stiff 3–4 mm diam., branching at less than 60° angles; cup scales often laterally connate and embedded in tomentum, not in noticeable concentric rings; nut ovoid.
→ 2
2. Leaf blade glossy dark green, brittle, margins entire to mucronately toothed, often strongly revolute; surfaces abaxially densely tomentose.
Q. tomentella
2. Leaf blade dull gray-green to yellowish green, leathery, margins entire to spinescent or mucronately toothed, usually flat; surfaces abaxially glabrous or pubescent, not tomentose.
→ 3
3. Shrubs; leaf margins entire to mucronately toothed, surfaces glabrous or pubescent with sparse cover of minute stellate hairs, glandular hairs absent; nut 8–17 mm, cup thin, 10–15 mm wide; nut scar to 3 mm diam.
Q. vacciniifolia
3. Trees or large shrubs; leaf margins entire to spinescent, surfaces glabrate to pubescent with golden glandular and multiradiate hairs; nut 15–30 mm, cup thick, 15–40 mm wide; nut scar 4–10 mm diam.
Q. chrysolepis
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Protobalanus Fagaceae > 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
Subordinate taxa
Q. chrysolepis, Q. palmeri, Q. tomentella, Q. vacciniifolia
Name authority Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) (Trelease) A. Camus: Chênes 1: 157. (1938)
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).



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