Quercus depressipes Trel.

Mexico, scattered at high elevations (Chihuahua, Durango, South Zacatecas, North Jalisco) ; Texas (Mt Livermore in Davis Mountains) ; 1800-3200 m ; very restricted area;

not exceeding 1or 1.5 m, rhizomatous, in dense thickets;

1.5-5 cm x 1-3; deciduous; thick, leathery; oblong-oboval to elliptic or almost orbicular; apex mucronate, rounded or subacute; base subcordate; margins flat, entire or remotely toothed-crenate near apex (1-4 pairs of mucronate teeth); dull blue green above and hairless except some fascicled hairs near base; abaxially with numerous glandular, golden trichomes not seen with naked eye; 4-8 vein pairs, reddish or yellowish, straight or slightly curved; short petiole 1-3 mm long, glabrous, bloomy; the base of the adaxial face of the limb, at the junction with the petiole, looks like depressed, hence the specific name.

in May; male catkins 2 cm long, with numerous flowers; female inflorescences 5-6 mm long with 2 pubescent flowers;

acorn brown, elliptic, 1-1.5 cm; singly or to 3; apex rounded, hairless; peduncle glabrous 1.5-3.5 cm long; cup with somewhat warty scales, covering 1/3 to 1/2 of nut; cotyledons connate; matures in 1 year, in December;

hardy; all types of soils, but prefers calcareous, dry ones;

– A. Camus : n° 181; – Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, Series Leucomexicanae; – Hybridizes with Q.rugosa ;