Quercus minima

(Sargent) Small

Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 438. 1897.

Common names: Minimal oak
EndemicIllustrated
Basionym: Quercus virginiana var. minima Sargent Silva 8: 101. 1895
Synonyms: Quercus virens var. dentata Chapman Quercus virginiana var. dentata (Chapman) Sargent
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 3.

Shrubs, subevergreen or evergreen, low, rhizomatous, forming clonal patches of straight, often unbranched stems 0.2-0.7 (-2) m. Bark light gray or brown, smooth. Twigs light gray, 1.5-3 mm diam., glabrous or very finely tomentulose and glabrate in 2d year. Buds dark gray-brown, globose, 0.5-1 (-1.5) mm; scale margins glabrous or puberulent. Leaves dimorphic; petiole 1-4 (-10) mm. Leaf-blade obovate to oblanceolate, sometimes orbiculate or lanceovate, often asymmetric, 40-120 × 20-50 mm proximally on shoots, narrowly elliptic, 20-60 × 5-20 mm distally on shoots, base cuneate, rarely truncate or cordate, margins minutely revolute or flat, coarsely and irregularly 1-5 toothed on each side (proximal leaves of shoots) or entire (distal leaves on shoots), teeth mucronate (rarely spinose in suckers or juveniles), secondary-veins obscure, 4-10 (-12) on each side, usually 4-6 in proximal leaves, apex obtuse-rounded or acute; surfaces abaxially whitish or glaucous, densely covered with minute, appressed, fused-stellate hairs, light green and glabrate in shade leaves, adaxially dark or light green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, stellate hairs. Acorns 1-3, on peduncle 3-30 mm; cup hemispheric or deeply goblet-shaped, (8-) 10-15 mm deep × 6-15 mm wide, base often constricted, scales whitish or grayish, thickened basally, keeled, acute-attenuate, tomentulose, tips reddish, glabrous or puberulent; nut dark-brown, narrowly ovoid or subcylindric, 13-22 (-25) × 8-15 mm, glabrous. Cotyledons connate.


Phenology: Flowering spring.
Habitat: Coastal plain, open evergreen woodlands and scrublands on deep sandy soils, often as understory with pines
Elevation: 0-200 m

Distribution

V3 97-distribution-map.gif

Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C.

Discussion

Quercus minima is one of the most distinctive oaks of southeastern United States in morphology, habit, and habitat. It is one of our most strongly rhizomatous species, and it flowers and fruits as early as three years from seed, on vertical stems as small as 0.2-0.3 m. Other related live oaks of Quercus series Virentes (see C. H. Muller 1961) can produce rhizomatous clonal patches as well, but these typically do not bear fruit, are usually associated with large shrub or tree forms, and probably represent response to fire and/or drought conditions. Because of the juvenile phases in other live oaks that may resemble Q. minima, it is necessary to evaluate form and reproductive capacity within populations to identify those species accurately.

Putative hybrid swarms between Quercus minima and Q. chapmanii occur along the eastern side of Florida. These are rhizomatous shrubs with leaves somewhat intermediate between the two parents. The leaves are broadly rounded apically and basally, and sparsely stellate abaxially. The fruit resembles that of Q. minima. Material of such affinity, but with larger nuts (to 25 mm), was the basis for Q. rolfsii Small. More data on variation in cotyledon fusion in the putative hybrid swarms would be useful because Q. minima has connate cotyledons and those of Q. chapmanii are distinct.

Quercus minima has been reported from coastal Texas (C. H. Muller 1970), but that material is probably best referred to Q. fusiformis and possible introgressants from Q. virginiana and Q. oleoides. Typical Q. minima is not known from west of Mississippi. The Texas populations that have been referred here lack leaf dimorphism, leaf shape, and venation of Q. minima. Instead, they seem to be part of an extremely variable complex of erect shrubs, rhizomatous shrubs, and trees that have leaves varying in form between those of Q. fusiformis and Q. oleoides (e.g., the type of Q. oleoides var. quaterna C. H. Muller). If Q. minima occurred on the Texas coast in the past, its presence there has been so diluted by introgression that it is not now recognizable by the very distinctive and reliable characteristics that are used to identify it.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Quercus minima"
acute +  and obtuse-rounded +
Kevin C. Nixon +
(Sargent) Small +
brown;light gray +
cordate;truncate;cuneate +
constricted +
Quercus virginiana var. minima +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
dark gray-brown +
globose +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
2-6-lobed +
pistillate +, capitate +  and spicate +
Minimal oak +
starchy +  and fleshy +
goblet--shaped +  and hemispheric +
×6-15 +, 10mm +  and 15mm +
multibracteate +, spiny +  and scaly +
Fla. +, Ga. +, Miss. +, N.C. +  and S.C. +
0-200 m +
pistillate +  and staminate +
biennial +, annual +  and maturation +
1-seeded +  and winged +
in groups +  and enclosed +
Coastal plain, open evergreen woodlands and scrublands on deep sandy soils, often as understory with pines +
stellate +  and fused-stellate +
minute +
pistillate +, spicate +  and staminate +
tomentulose +  and glabrate +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
lanceovate +, orbiculate +, obovate +  and oblanceolate +
arranged +  and alternate +
entire +, dentate +  and serrate +
1 (?) +  and 5 (?) +
toothed +, flat +  and revolute +
2.2 cm22 mm <br />0.022 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
dark-brown +
1.3 cm13 mm <br />0.013 m <br /> (2.2 cm22 mm <br />0.022 m <br />) +
subcylindric +  and ovoid +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
Flowering spring. +
Bull. Torrey Bot. Club +
grayish +  and whitish +
connate +  and distinct +
puberulent +  and glabrous +
tomentulose +
few-to-many +
acute-attenuate +  and keeled +
reduced +
anastomosing +, branching +  and unbranched +
4 +  and 6 +
Endemic +  and Illustrated +
straight +
inconspicuous +
distinct +
subulate +  and dilated +
enlarged +
light green +, dark +  and whitish +
with minute , scattered , stellate hairs +, glabrous +, glabrate +  and glaucous +
Quercus virens var. dentata +  and Quercus virginiana var. dentata +
Quercus minima +
Quercus sect. Quercus +
species +
spheric +  and ovoid terete or angled +
puberulent +  and glabrous +
bristle-tipped +
mucronate +
light gray +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
glabrate +, tomentulose +  and glabrous +
70 cm700 mm <br />0.7 m <br /> (200 cm2,000 mm <br />2 m <br />) +
evergreen +  and subevergreen +