Quercus elliptica Née

Mexico (Guerrero, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Vera Cruz) ; Guatemala ; ; El Salvador ; Honduras ; 500-2400 m ;

2-15 m high; trunk 0.15-0.60 m in diameter;

3-12 x 2-6 cm; deciduous; leathery, hard; elliptic, lanceolate or oblanceolate; apex rounded or obtuse, sometimes acute and aristate, and sometimes emarginate; base rounded, cordate or auricled; margin entire, cartilaginous, slightly revolute, without bristles; light green, smooth and shiny above, nearly glabrous (some multiradiate, 5-7 rays, stalked trichomes mostly on vein axils); paler beneath, glabrous or with some stellate hairs along midrib, and axillary tufts; 8-16 vein pairs prominent abaxially; epidermis slightly bullate and papillose; petiole 3-7 mm, tomentose;

in February-March; male catkins strongly pubescent, 5-9 cm long, with numerous flowers; pistillate inflorescences 0.7-1.5 cm, with 1-5 flowers;

acorn 1.3-1.5 cm, ovoid; base truncate; singly or 2-3 together; sessile or on a 2-3 mm stalk; shallow cup enclosing only 1/3 of nut, with thin, pubescent, triangular scales; maturing in 1 year in October;

not hardy; well drained soils in wet montane forests;

– Sub-genus Quercus, section Lobatae, Series Erythromexicanae; – One must not confuse Q.comayaguana Trel. with Q.comasaguana (= Q.vicentensis ) ! – Hybridizes with Q.sapotifolia ; – Very close to Q.aristata Hook. et Arn.; – For Gorvaerts & Frodin, Q.nectandrifolia is a separate species, but not for today’s Mexican Authors (Susana Valencia-Avalos, 2004, who, moreover, makes a synonymy with Q.porriginosa and Q.elliptica).