Oaks of the World

General dataClassificationsList of speciesLocal namesBack to
home page

  Quercus ithaburensis
Author Decaisne 1835 Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. II, 4: 348
Synonyms aegilops subsp ithaburensis (Decne)Eig 1933
aegilops var. ithaburensis (Decne) Boissier 1879
macrolepis subsp ithaburensis (Decne) Browicz 1978
Local names Mount Thabor's oak;
Range Southeastern Italy; South Albania; Greece; Turkey; Asia Minor. Syria; Lebanon; Palestina; Israel;
Growth habit to 15 m tall; trunk and branches often gnarled; crown round;
Leaves 4-9 x 2-5 cm; oval or oval-lanceolate; leathery; marcescent; often with margin wavy or revolute, with 7-10 pairs of shallow  lobes (or teeth); apex obtuse, base rounded; dark green, hairless (or someones), convex above; grey, tomentose beneath; petiole hairy1-2 cm long;
Flowers
Fruits acorn to 5 cm long x 3 cm wide, oval or narrowly ellipsoid; cup with broad, thick, stiff, free, appressed or recurving scales; maturing in 2 years;

Bark, twigs and
buds

young twig hairy; bud ovoid hairy;
Hardiness zone, habitat hardy but suffers from deep cold; all types of soils; slow-growing;
Miscellaneous -- A. Camus : 115;
-- Sub-genus Cerris, Section Cerris, subsection Aegilops (with macrolepis and brantii);

-- The term "aegilops" is very confused, as it has been given to several species:
_aegilops L. or Auctores (Boiss. or Lam.) = Q.ithaburensis subsp macrolepis
_aegilops Griseb. = Q.trojana
_aegilops Scop. = Q.cerris
_aegilops Mill. = Q.pubescens
so it is better to give up with it !
Subspecies and
varieties

2 subspecies:

---subsp ithaburensis: A.Camus n° 115
the type, described above

---subsp macrolepis (Kotschy) Hedge & Yaltirik 1982
= Q.aegilops L. subsp aegilops
= Q.aegilops L. subsp macrolepis A.Camus 1934
= Q.aegilops L. subsp vallonea (Kotschy) A.Camus 1934
= Q.aegilops L. 1753, & auctores , nom. rejic.
= Q.cretica Bald. 1895
= Q.echinata Lam. 1779
= Q.ehrenbergii Kotschy 1859
= Q.macrolepis Kotschy 1859
= Q.graeca Kotschy 1859
= Q. pyrami Kotschy 1862
= Q.vallonea Kotschy 1858
= Q. ungeri Kotschy 1858
= Q.hypoleuca Kotschy 1864
= Q.ventricosa Koehne 1893
= Q.aegilops var. taygetea Orph. ex A.Camus 1938
"Valonia oak"
15-20 m; crown elliptic; leaves flat or slightly wavy, subleathery; 6-15 x 2.5-6 cm, oval or elliptical, sometimes oblong; semi-evregreen; densely hairy beneath, with stellate trichomes; greyish-green and glabrous above; apex pointed, base subcordate; margin with 3-8 pairs of triangular, broad, irregular, spiny, often lobulate lobes; petiole tomentose 1.5-4 cm; acorn 2.5-4 cm long, 2-3 cm wide, enclosed 1/2 by deep, wooly, 3 cm in diameter cup, with scales thick, recurved outward or sometimes adpressed; acorn maturing in 2 years; bark blackish, fissured, scaly; young twig pubescent; bud ovoid, obtuse, tomentose; hardy (to -18°C); all types of soils, prefers dry ones; withstands alkaline soils;
The Balkans; Greece; South-East Italy; SW Turkey; Syria; Lebanon; 600 to 1600 m;
This taxon is today (2010) considered as being a true species (= Q. macrolepis Kotschy)

--- Q. x look  Kotschy 1860 Eich. Eur. Orient. 21
= Q.aegilops subsp look (Kotschy) A.Camus 1934
= Q.brantii subsp look (Kotschy) Mouterde 1966
Tree to 10-15 m, sometimes much smaller; leaves thin but coriaceous, oblong or narrowly oval-lanceolate, 6-15 cm x 3.5-8, attenuate at base and apex, margin wavy with 4-9 pairs of unequal, small, mucronate lobes; upper surface becoming glabrous, lower surface with sparse pubescence; 6-9 pairs of lateral veins; petiole 1-1.5 cm long; cupule hemispherical, 2-2.5 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm wide, enclosing 1/2 to 2/3 of the nut, with scales pointed, the upper ones reflexed, the rest straight; acorn barrel-shaped, truncate and depressed at apex, 2-3 cm long x 2-2.3 cm wide; acorn sessile, singly or paired. Montane forests 1500 to 1900 m, Israel, Lebanon, Syria. Hardy zone 7.
For Menitsky, it is a hybrid with Q.libani, in mountains. Closely related to Q.brantii, but with leaves unevenly dentate, scattered hairs abaxially, shorter petiole, smaller cup, cup-scales shorter and less recurved, cup covering almost all the fruit (with apex sunken); "lo-ok" is the local name of the species.
However, the recent genetic studies (2018) show that the assessment of this oak as a parent of Q. ithaburensis can be rejected. Additional investigations are required to evalutate if the features of Q. look justifie its exclusion from the genetically and morphologically variable Q. cerris. Actually, this taxon is placed todays (2024) in the Section Cerris, sub-section Cerris (with castaneifolia, cerris and euboica). Threatened (IUCN Red List Category : EN)

Pictures