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Quercus wislizeni

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Interior live oak
Leaves and acorn. The leaf margins are sometimes spiny rather than smooth.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Fagales
Family:
Fagaceae
Genus:
Quercus
Section:
Lobatae
Species:
Q. wislizeni
Binomial name
Quercus wislizeni
Combined ranges of Quercus wislizeni and Quercus parvula

Quercus wislizeni, known by the common name interior live oak,[2] is an evergreen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in areas of California in the United States continuing south into northern Baja California in Mexico. It generally occurs in foothills, being most abundant in the lower altitudes of the Sierra Nevada, but also widespread in the Pacific Coast Ranges ─ where since 1980 it has been known as a separate species Quercus parvula[3][4] ─ and the San Gabriel Mountains. It was named for its collector, Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus (1810–1889).[2]

It is a large shrub or tree[5] growing to 22 m tall although where it is common in the low elevation Sierra foothills it seldom exceeds 10 m. The dark-green leaves ─ appearing grayish from a distance ─ are usually small, 2–5 cm long, thick, and often spiny-toothed at higher elevations, particularly on young trees. The male flowers are on catkins, the female flowers in leaf axils. The acorns are 1–2 cm long, and mature the second season (about 18 months) after flowering.

Although originally published by Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle as "wislizeni",[6] some sources, e.g., Jensen in Flora of North America,[5] mistakenly spelled the specific epithet "wislizenii." Correct spelling is with one "i," per ICN article 60C.2.[7] Interestingly, Wislizenus' specimen was thought by de Candolle to have been collected in Chihuahua, Mexico. However, German-born American botanist Georg Engelmann later corrected the location to the American fork of the Sacramento River near Auburn, California.

California physician and botanist (and one of the founding fathers of the California Academy of Sciences) Albert Kellogg described this oak in an 1855 publication as Quercus arcoglandis (spur acorn oak),[8] clearly predating French-Swiss botanist de Candolle's 1864 description of it as Q. wislizeni. More investigation is needed to resolve this taxonomic conflict.

Currently there are two recognized varieties of interior live oak:[4]

  • Q. wislizeni A. DC. var. wislizeni (1864)
  • Q. wislizeni A. DC. var. frutescens Engelm.[9] (1878)

Ecology

The interior live oak is classified as a red oak (section Lobatae). Q. wislizeni hybridizes with California black oak (Q. kelloggii) (= Quercus x morehus, Abram's oak). All California red oaks show evidence of introgression and/or hybridization with one another.

A common alliant tree is gray pine (Pinus sabiniana)[10]

References

  1. ^  Q. wislizeni was published and described in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis ... (DC.), 16(2.1): 67. 1864. "Plant Name Details for Quercus wislizeni". IPNI. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "Name - Quercus wislizeni A.DC". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved August 9, 2010. Collector: Wislizenius [sic] s.n.; Distribution: Mexico (Chihuahua)
  3. ^ Nixon, "A Systematic Study of Quercus parvula Greene on Santa Cruz Island and Mainland California," Master's Thesis (1980)
  4. ^ a b Jepson Flora Project (eds.), 2015. Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html July 17, 2015
  5. ^ a b Flora of North America, 2008
  6. ^ De Candolle A., Prodr. 16(2.1):67 (1864)
  7. ^ J. McMeill et al. (eds). 2012. International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. Regnum Vegetabile 154. Koeltz Scientific Books. ISBN 978-3-87429-425-6
  8. ^ Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. 1(1):25 (1855)
  9. ^ Engelm., Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 3:396 (1878)
  10. ^ Keuter, "Key to the California Lobatae," ined. (2015)
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