Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus texana

huckleberry oak

Nuttall's oak, Texas red 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 25 m. Bark dark brown with flat ridges divided by shallow fissures.
Twigs

red-brown to gray, 1.5-3(-3.5) mm diam., 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 ovate to elliptic or obovate, 75-200 × 55-130 mm, base cuneate to almost truncate, often inequilateral, margins with 6-11 lobes and 9-24 awns, lobes oblong to distally expanded, rarely falcate, apex acute;

surfaces abaxially glabrous except for conspicuous axillary tufts of tomentum, veins raised, adaxially 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 thin (scale bases visible on inner surface), deeply goblet-shaped with pronounced constriction at base, 10-16 mm high × 15-22 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent, inner surface sparsely to uniformly pubescent, scale tips appressed, acute;

nut broadly ovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 15-26 × 13-18 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, scar diam. 8-13 mm, scar often orangish.
Terminal

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

buds gray to gray-brown, ovoid, 3-7 mm, glabrous or with scales somewhat ciliate at apex.

Quercus vacciniifolia

Quercus texana
Phenology Flowering in early summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from montane coniferous zone to near treeline Flood plains and bottomlands
Elevation 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; IL; KY; LA; MO; MS; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

For many years the name Quercus texana was erroneously used for Q. buckleyi (L. J. Dorr and K. C. Nixon 1985). A few authors have also used the name for Q. gravesii.

Quercus nuttallii E. J. Palmer var. cachensis E. J. Palmer was described as a small-fruited form (nuts 16-18 × 12-16 mm) from specimens collected in east-central Arkansas (E. J. Palmer 1937). Noting the similarity between Q. nuttallii var. cachensis and Q. palustris, Palmer discounted the possibility of the former being of hybrid origin because (1) he had not observed Q. palustris in the type locality, and (2) the leaves and buds of the former were essentially the same as in Q. nuttallii var. nuttallii.

C. H. Muller (1942), on the other hand, argued that Quercus nuttallii was nothing more than a form [forma nuttallii (E. J. Palmer) C. H. Muller] of Q. palustris. This is a puzzling conclusion because it was based largely on the premise that Q. nuttallii occurred "...with the parent species throughout a large part of the latter's southern range (Mississippi to eastern Texas and southeastern Missouri)." The range of Q. palustris does not extend into Mississippi or eastern Texas, although its range does overlap that of Q. texana in eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. E. J. Palmer (1948) and D. M. Hunt (1989) have suggested hybridization with Q. shumardii and Q. nigra, respectively. See L. J. Dorr and K. C. Nixon (1985) for an explanation of the nomenclatural confusion regarding this taxon.

(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
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. 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. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. nuttallii, Q. rubra var. texana, Q. shumardii var. texana
Name authority Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) Buckley: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12: 444. (1860)
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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