Quercus intricata Trel.

Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luís Potosí, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas)  ; Texas (Chisos Mount., Eagle Mount.) ; from 1500 to 2850 m ; in restricted areas;

0.5-2 m; evergreen; intricate branches; thicket forming;

1-4 x 0.5-1.8 cm ; evergreen; very thick, coriaceous, rough, sometimes convex; ovate, ovate-elliptic or elliptic-oblong; apex variable, acute or rounded, mucronate; base obtuse or slightly cordate; margin slightly wavy, strongly revolute, entire or with 1-3 pairs of short teeth (less than 2 mm long) asymmetrically arranged and not in same number each side; olive green above, shiny or not, with stellate and glandular hairs mainly along veins and base; densely yellowish grey or silvery tomentose beneath, becoming sometimes glabrescent second year, with a tomentum made of simple and stellate trichomes, with also uniseriate glandular ones; 7-10 veins pairs, hairless, impressed adaxially, prominent beneath; petiole 2.5-5 mm, tomentose;

spring; male catkins 2-3 cm long, with numerous flowers; female catkins 3-10 mm, with 1-5 pubescent flowers;

acorn globose, 1-1.5 cm in diameter; light brown; single or paired; cup subsessile or shortly stalked (to 1 cm long), rim straight or sometimes rolled inside, covering at least half of nut, with thickened, pubescent scales at base ; maturing in 1 year, from September to December; cotyledons distinct;

hardiness zone : 7; dry, calcareous, rocky soils;

– A. Camus : n° 255 ; – Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, Subsection Leucomexicanae; – Closely related to Mexican species Q.deliquescens Née, which has leaves with longer, symmetrical teeth, in same number each side, and a different cup. – No hybrid known; – This taxon is a member of the Q. microphylla complex (Valencia 2020) composed of Q. cordifolia, Q. deliquescens, Q. frutex, Q. intricata, Q. microphylla, Q. mohriana, Q. repanda and Q. striatula .