Arizona White Oak 



315 



about one third of the nut, covered with woolly scales, which are slightly thickened 

 toward the base, thinner, and forming a sHght fringe around the rim of the 



cup. 



Quercus minima (Sargent) Small and Q. succulenta Small, of Florida, and Q. 

 fusiform is Small, of central Texas, are shrubby Live oaks not known to form trees. 



32. ARIZONA WHITE OAK Quercus arizonica Sargent 



This is the most abundant White oak in southern New Mexico and Arizona, 

 and occurs in adjacent Mexico. It grows at altitudes of 1500 to 3000 meters, and 

 attains a maximum height of 18 meters, with a trunk diameter of 1.2 m. 



The branches are stout, spreading horizontally and more or less ascending, 

 forming a usually symmetrical round-topped tree. The bark is about 2.5 cm. 

 thick, deeply and narrowly fissured into wide ridges, which are broken into long 

 thick plates of a hght gray color; that of younger stems is much thinner, with 

 close thin scales. The twigs are stout, woolly at first, becoming less hairy, finally 

 smooth and reddish brown. The leaves are oblong to ovate or obovate, 2 to 8 

 cm. long, sharp or sHghtly rounded at 

 the apex, rounded or heart-shaped at 

 the base, entire or wavy, or sometimes' 

 spinose-toothed toward the apex, thick 

 and somewhat re volute on the margin; 

 they are thick, stiff, rather dark green 

 and smooth, or covered with stellate 

 hairs, and with a yellowish midrib above, 

 yellow-green or pale green and thickly 

 yellowish-hairy, with a broad thick yel- 

 low midrib and slender, coarsely netted 

 venation beneath, persistent until the 

 new leaves begin to unfold. The leaf- 

 stalk is stout, shghtly flattened, woolly, 

 4 to 8 mm. long. The flowers appear in 

 April or May, the staminate in slender 

 hsiiry catkins 4 to 5 cm. long, their calyx having 4 to 7 broad, sharp-pointed, yel- 

 low lobes; stamens exserted, their anthers oblong, notched, red or yellow. The 

 pistillate flowers are on short hairy stalks, their involucral scales broadly ovate, 

 hair}^; styles short and spreading. The fruit, ripening late in the autumn of the 

 first season, is sessile or short-stalked, soHtar}^ or 2 or 3 together; nut oblong or 

 oval, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, brown and shining, often striped, cup hemispheric, 12 to 

 15 mm. across, light brown and hairy inside, embracing about one fourth of the 

 nut, covered by close, ovate scales, which are densely coated with pale woolly 

 hairs, those toward the base of the cup thickened. 



The wood is hard and strong, close-grained, dark brown to nearly black. It 



Fig. 268. Arizona White Oak. 



