Quercus incana
Travels Carolina, 378. 1791.
Trees, deciduous, to 10 m. Bark dark-brown to black with square plates. Twigs brown to reddish-brown, 1-2.5 mm diam., tomentose to sparsely pubescent. Terminal buds light-brown to reddish-brown, narrowly ovoid to conic, 3.5-7 mm, distinctly 5-angled in cross-section, scales pubescent, often tuft of reddish or silvery hairs at apex. Leaves: petiole 2-8 (-10) mm, tomentose. Leaf-blade narrowly ovate or elliptic to obovate, usually widest near middle, planar, 30-100 × 12-35 mm, base acute (rarely attenuate) to rounded, margins entire, with 1 apical awn (leaves on juvenile or 2d-flush growth may have 2-3 shallow lobes and 3-5 awns), apex acute or obtuse, rarely rounded; surfaces abaxially densely tomentose, hairs in vein-axils often reddish, easily distinguished from others, adaxially often glossy, sparsely pubescent, especially along midrib and near base, veins often raised. Acorns biennial; cup saucer-shaped to bowl-shaped, 4.5-8 mm high × 10-18 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3 (-1/2) nut, outer surface pubescent or puberulent, inner surface uniformly pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, obtuse or acute; nut ovoid (rarely subglobose) to broadly ellipsoid, 10-17 × 10-16 mm, occasionally striate, glabrate, scar diam. 5.5-10.5 mm.
Phenology: Flowering spring.
Habitat: Well-drained sandy soils of barrens, hammocks, dunes, and upland ridges
Elevation: 0-250 m
Distribution
Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., Okla., S.C., Tex., Va.
Discussion
Quercus incana reportedly hybridizes with Q. falcata [= Q. ×subintegra (Engelmann) Trelease], Q. hemisphaerica (D. M. Hunt 1989), Q. laurifolia (= Q. ×atlantica Ashe), Q. laevis (= Q. ×asheana Little), Q. marilandica (= Q. ×cravenensis Little), Q. nigra (= Q. ×caduca Trelease), and Q. phellos (E. J. Palmer 1948); with Q. pumila (D. M. Hunt 1989); and with Q. velutina (= Q. ×podophylla Trelease), and questionably, Q. myrtifolia.
Selected References
None.