Quercus laeta Liebm.

Mexico (Aguascalientes, Coahuila, DF, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas); 2300 - 2700 m;

5 - 10 m tall; sometimes shrub to 60 cm high; crown broad; branches twisted, spreading;

5-14 x 2-7 cm; deciduous; thick, leathery, stiff; oblanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or oboval, seldom elliptic; apex round or acute, mucronate; base cordate or subcordate, sometimes cuneate; margin thick, slightly revolute, undulate, entire or most often with 3-6 pairs of teeth on the apical 2/3, with curved mucros; young leaves grey-green adaxially with abundant stellate trichomes, abaxially densely stellate pubescent; mature leaves dark lustrous olive green above, rough, nearly glabrous or with 9 rayed sellate trichomes on the whole surface and simple uniseriate glandular trichomes along midrib, especially the base; pale glaucous beneath, glabrescent, with an even indumentum made of long, shortly pediculate, 9-rayed spreading stellate hairs, without masses of glandular secretions but with few glandular trichomes, mostly on veins; 7-12 vein pairs impressed above, prominent beneath, ending in the mucro of the teeth, the basal veins forked before reaching the margin; epidermis white-papillose ; petiole pubescent 2-10 mm long;

flowering in May; male catkins 4-6 cm long, with numerous flowers; female ones 1-3 cm long, with 1 to 3 pubescent flowers;

acorn ovoid, 0.6-1.3 cm long, 0.6-0.7 cm in diameter; singly or to 3 sessile or on a short peduncle less than 5 cm long; apex obtuse, mucronate; enclosed 1/3 or 1/2 by cup; cup 0.8-1.1 cm in diameter, with pubescent scales narrowed at apex and thickened at base; maturing in 1 year, from September to November;

hardy; prefers dry, rocky soils;

– A. Camus : n° 232 ; – Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, Subsection Leucomexicanae, Series Glaucoideae; – Q. laeta shows extensive morphological variation throughout its distribution, which makes it a problematic species. However, it can be distinguished by its abaxial blade surface which is covered with long stellate shortly stipitate trichomes, lacks amber glandular trichomes, and usually has appressed acute unicellular trichomes along the midvein ; the abaxial epidermis is white-papillose and appears glaucous. – Related to Q.obtusata with which it hybridizes frequently; Q. laeta differs from Q. obtusata which has larger leaves, the foliar underside pale green with abundant glandular hairs and glandular secretions, sparse stellate trichomes with tangled hairs, and a foliar margin never entire. – Possible confusion with other similar oaks : see all differences HERE .