Quercus polymorpha , sapotifolia

Mexico, on Atlantic slope (Chiapas, Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz); Guatemala; SW Texas; 200-2450 m;

10-20 m tall; trunk to 50 cm wide;

5-14 x 3-6 cm; sub-evergreen; coriaceous; elliptic or ovate; apex obtuse, rounded or retuse, seldom acuminate, mucronate; base rounded or cordate; margin thickened, slightly revolute, somewhat cartilaginous, entire or with 2-5 pairs of short, mucronate teeth; green or glaucous, slightly lustrous, almost hairless above or with stellate hairs on midvein; paler, dull, glaucous beneath, hairless or sometimes loosely fascicled pubescent, and with rusty glandular hairs scattered, mainly along veins; 8-13 vein pairs, impressed above and prominent beneath; tertiary veins conspicuous beneath; epidermis glaucous, waxy, papillose; petiole slender, yellowish, 1.4-3 cm long, glabrescent;

in March; staminate carkins 3-7 cm long, densely flowered, tomentose; pistillate flowers 1-2 on a pubescent peduncle less than 1 cm long;

acorn 1.5-1.8 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm in diameter, oblong; singly or paired on a 1-2 cm long peduncle located at the axil of the leaves; enclosed 1/2 by cup; cup velutinous, 1.2-1.5 cm in diameter, with strongly tuberculate triangular scales; cotyledons free; maturing in 1 year from October to December;

hardy : zone 7 (hardly withstands -16° C); all types of soil; cultivated in Spain, and in UK (at Kew);

– A. Camus : n° 210; – Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, Series Polymorphae; – Discovered in 1992 only in the US Territory; – Possible confusion with Q. germana which has petioles 0.3-0.6 cm long, acorns 2.8-4 cm long on a peduncle located at the end of the twigs.