''Quercus sagraeana'', the Cuban oak, is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to western

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in the

Cuban pine forests The Cuban pine forests are a tropical coniferous forest ecoregion on the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Isla de la Juventud. They cover an area of , occurring in separate sections in eastern Cuba and western Cuba and Isla de la Juventud. Descri ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas o ...

. It is the only

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

native to the Caribbean.

Nomenclature

The Cuban oak was first described by

Nuttall Nuttall may refer to: People * Nuttall (name) * Nuttall baronets Nature * Nuttall's oak, a fast-growing large deciduous oak tree native to North America * Nuttall's woodpecker, a species of woodpecker found in oak woodlands of California * Nutta ...

(1842) as ''Quercus sagraeana'' based on the specimen collected by

Ramón de la Sagra Ramón Dionisio José de la Sagra y Peris (8 April 179823 May 1871) was a Spanish anarchist, politician, writer, and botanist who founded the world's first anarchist journal, ''El Porvenir'' (Spanish for "The Future"). Biography Ramón de la Sag ...

. Using the same specimen, but apparently unaware of the original name,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

(1853) named the Cuban oak ''Q. cubana''. Trelease (1924) did not view ''Q. sagraeana'' as a species in its own right but as a variety of '' Q. virginiana''. He proposed the name ''Q. virginiana'' var. ''sagraeana''. Muller (1961) renamed it ''Q. oleoides'' var. ''sagraeana'', hypothesizing that the Cuban oak population was a subspecies of '' Q. oleoides'', originating from the

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate mun ...

region of

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, but with introgression from '' Q. geminata'' coming from

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. He considered the morphologically variable Cuban population a

hybrid swarm A hybrid swarm is a population of hybrids that has survived beyond the initial hybrid generation, with interbreeding between hybrid individuals and backcrossing with its parent types. Such population are highly variable, with the genetic and ...

that had stabilized and was distinct from the other live oaks of the series '' Virentes''. A recent study of molecular genetic variation and taxonomically informative leaf morphology shows that the Cuban oak shows little evidence of hybrid origin and is most similar to '' Q. virginiana'', but distinct enough to be regarded as a separate species, ''Q. sagraeana''.

References

sagraeana Endemic flora of Cuba Trees of Cuba Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Quercus-stub

Nomenclature

See also

References