Quercus pungens Liebm. purhepecha De Luna-Bonilla & al.

C Texas; SE Arizona; New-Mexico; Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Guanajuato); 800 to 2000 m;

not exceeding 5 m tall; often bushy, 0.2-1 m; thicket forming;

2-4 (-6) x 1.5-3 cm; evergreen; stiff, thick, rough; elliptic or oblong; apex obtuse or acute; base rounded or seldom acute, sometimes asymmetrical; margin thickened, wavy, mostly with 1-8 pairs of mucronate, pungent teeth, sometimes crenate; glaucous to yellowish green, shiny above, with scattered, small, sessile, stellate hairs, mainly at base of midvein, glabrescent; dull beneath, densely tomentose with small, scattered stellate hairs and simple hairs on midvein; 7-11 vein pairs more evident beneath; epidermis slightly bullate, papillose; petiole 3-6 mm long, slightly hairy;

in May; male catkins 0.5-2 cm long, with more than 10 flowers; pistillate ones with 1-3 pubescent flowers;

acorn 1-1.2 cm long; oblong; singly or paired; subsessile or with a short stalk 3 mm long; cup shallow enclosing 1/3 to 1/2 of nut; maturing in 1 year in September;

hardy (withstands -15° C); prefers dry soils, even calcareous ones;

– A. Camus : n° 215; – Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, Series Polymorphae; – Numerous forms intermediate between Q.pungens and Q.vaseyana ;