Oaks of the World

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  Quercus laceyi
Author Small 1901 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 358
Synonyms breviloba f. laceyi (Small) Trel. 1924
breviloba subsp laceyi (Small) A.Camus 1939
Local names Lacey oak;
Range N.E. Mexico (Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Tamaulipas); S.E USA : West Texas (Edwards Plateau); 350 to 2200 m;
Growth habit reaches 8 m. tall;
Leaves 3-7(-10) cm x 2-5; deciduous; weakly coriaceous; oblong or oboval; apex rounded or obtuse, often retuse; base round or slightly cuneate; margin wavy-crenate, slightly revolute, with 1-4 rounded, insconspicous, mucronate lobes, seldom entire or dentate; young leaves reddish and with white glandular hairs both sides; mature leaves grey-green or sometimes yellewish green above, not lustrous, hairless or with some stellate trichomes along midrib; paler beneath, glabrous or with some white glandular trichomes; 6-11 yellowish vein pairs, flat or slightly raised both sides; epidermis papillose; petiole 2-7 mm long, thin, glabrescent;
Flowers male flowers with yellow anthers, numerous on 2-3 cm long catkins; female inflorescences 5 mm long, 1-3-flowered;
Fruits acorn 1.5-2 cm long, ovoid, brown; 1 to 2 together; stalkless; enclosed 1/3 by cup; cup with slightly tomentose scales, thickened at base; cotyledons free; maturing in 1 year from August to October;

Bark, twigs and
buds

bark furrowed, thick, dark grey; twig 1-3 mm thick, yellowish grey with numerous light brown inconspicuous lenticels; bud 2.5 mm, ovoid, conical or globose, dark brown, sparcely hairy; stipules deciduous, grooved;
Hardiness zone, habitat hardy; prefers calcareous, dry sites; withstands heavy clay soils;
Miscellaneous -- A. Camus : n° 246;
-- Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, Series Polymorphae;
-- Howard Lacey discovered it near his ranch at Kerville (Texas), in 1872;
-- Possible confusion with Q. glaucoides, but this species grows only in Center and South-West Mexico, has coriaceous leaves, 2-5 cm long petioles, foliar base cordate, acorn subsessile or on a stalk to 8 mm.
-- Possible confusion as well with Q. porphyrogenita (see this file).

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