| Quercus germana | |
| Author | Schltdl. & Cham. 1830 Linnaea 5: 78 |
| Synonyms |
germana var. echinata Trel. 1924 germana subsp subsquarrosa A.Camus 1935 |
| Local names | Mexican royal oak |
| Range | Mexico (Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz); 700-2300 m; |
| Growth habit | reaches 20 m tall, but much smaller in cultivation; |
| Leaves | 12-19 x 4-9 cm; persistent or semi-evergreen; often crowded at the end of the twig; coriaceous; oboval, oblanceolate or elliptic; apex mucronate, obtuse or acute sometimes shortly acuminate; base acute or rounded, sometimes cordate, often asymmetrical; margin flat or slightly revolute, entire, undulate, or with 4-10 pairs of shortly mucronate teeth on the apical half; lustrous, dark green, nearly glabrous above; pruinose, waxy, glaucous, nearly glabrous beneath (some hairs on the midvein); 8-15 pairs of straight secondary veins, rather straight, almost flat adaxialy; epidermis papillose and slightly bullate; petiole 0.3-0.6 cm long, glabrous or with some stellate trichomes; |
| Flowers | in March-April; male catkins 10-13 cm, pubescent, with 30-50 flowers; pistillate inflorescence 1-1.5 cm long, with 1-3 flowers; |
| Fruits | acorn subglobose to ovoid, 2-4 cm long, 2,2 cm in diameter, rusty tomentose at apex; single or paired on a 12-40 mm long glabrous peduncle situated near the end of new twigs, seldom at leaf axils; 1/4 to 1/2 enclosed by cup; cup half-round, warty, pubescent, 1.5-3.5 cm in diameter; maturing first year in September to November; |
|
Bark, twigs and |
bark greyish; twig greyish brown, slender (1.5-4 mm in diameter), glabrous, with numerous yellowish unconspicuous lenticels; bud ovoid or globose, hairy, 3-5 mm long; stipules 4-10 mm long, pubescent, sometimes persistent around terminal bud. |
| Hardiness zone, habitat | hardy (zone 8 but withstands -15° C over a short period); needs warm summers; wet montane cloud forests; |
| Miscellaneous |
-- A. Camus : n° 196; |
| Subspecies and varieties |
1 variety : Q.germana var. lemmonii Trel. 1924, at Veracruz (A. Camus : n° 196), actually it is the synonym of Q. polymorpha (Govaerts, 2007); |
| Pictures |
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