Quercus airensis Franco & Vasconcelos

Morocco; Portugal;

shrub or small tree

1.5-4 cm x 1-3; leathery, evergreen, spiny, flat; oval-oblong to almost lanceolate; both surfaces more or less pubescent, to tomentose (mainly adaxially); trichomes multiradiate, stipitate, branched, with 300-500 µ long rays; 5-7 pairs of secondary veins; petiole 1-5 mm long, woolly;

acorn 1.5-2 mm long, 1-2 mm wide; cup half-round, with free, slightly erected, terete to triangular, rather flat scales; cup enclosing the acorn 1/2 to entirely;

– Close to Q. aucheri Jaub. & Spach. – This species was considered in the past as a hybrid between Q. coccifera and Q. rotundifolia , under the name Q. x airensis, but following the change in the taxonomic rank, the taxon hybrid between coccifera ans rotundifolia is now named Q. x eborense (See this word); Q. airensis differs from Q. x eborense in the trichomes of the abaxial face of the leaf ( Q. x eborense has appressed stellate and multistellate trichomes with less than 160 µ long rays).