''Quercus mohriana'', commonly known as the Mohr oak, shin oak or scrub oak, is a North American

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

shrub or small tree in the white oak group and is native to the south-central United States and north-central Mexico. The species epithet ''mohriana'' honors the pharmacist and botanist Charles Mohr of Alabama.

Description

The Mohr oak can be a small tree up to 6 meters (20 feet) high or a large thicket-forming shrub. The bark is light brown, rough and deeply furrowed. The twigs are yellowish or whitish, with short velvety hairs, becoming smooth with age. The buds are dark red-brown, sparsely covered with hairs. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are shiny, leathery, dark blue-gray and densely covered with light gray hairs underneath. They have entire margins and are occasionally toothed. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

, which appears in spring, is reddish. There are female

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

s with one to three flowers and male catkins with numerous flowers. The acorn cups are deep and the acorns grow singly or in pairs and are light brown, broadly ovoid with a rounded apex.

Distribution and habitat

The Mohr oak is abundant in western

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It also grows in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

. The preferred habitat of this oak is on dry limestone or calcareous slopes at a height of between above sea level, in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

and desert scrub

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

. It thrives in regions that receive less than 63 cm (25 in) of annual rainfall.Texas Native Plants
/ref> It grows in association with true mountain-mahogany ''

Cercocarpus montanus ''Cercocarpus montanus'' is a North American species of shrub or small tree in the family Rosaceae native to northern Mexico and the western United States. It is known by the common names alder-leaf mountain-mahogany, alder-leaf cercocarpus, and ...

'', desert ceanothus ''

Ceanothus greggii ''Ceanothus pauciflorus'', known by the common name Mojave ceanothus, is a species of flowering shrub in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah) and Mexic ...

'', the sandpaper oak ''

Quercus pungens ''Quercus pungens'', commonly known as the sandpaper oak or scrub oak, is a North American species evergreen or sub-evergreen shrub or small tree in the white oak group. There is one recognised variety, ''Quercus pungens var. vaseyana'', the Vas ...

'', oneseed juniper ''

Juniperus monosperma ''Juniperus monosperma'' is a species of juniper native to western North America, in the United States in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Colorado, western Oklahoma ( Panhandle), and western Texas, and in Mexico in the extreme north of Chihuahua. ...

'', cane cholla ''

Opuntia imbricata ''Cylindropuntia imbricata'', the cane cholla (walking stick cholla, tree cholla, or chainlink cactus), is a cactus found in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, including some cooler regions in comparison to many other cacti. It o ...

'', purplefruited pricklypear ''

Opuntia phaeacantha ''Opuntia phaeacantha'' is a species of prickly pear cactus known by the common names tulip prickly pear, Mojave prickly pear, and desert prickly pear found across the southwestern United States, lower Great Plains, and northern Mexico. The plan ...

'', Mexican buckeye ''

Ungnadia speciosa ''Ungnadia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae containing one species, ''Ungnadia speciosa'', the Mexican buckeye. It is native to northern Mexico, as well as Texas and southern New Mexico in the United States. The name ho ...

'', Texas persimmon ''

Diospyros texana ''Diospyros texana'' is a species of persimmon that is native to central, south and west Texas and southwest Oklahoma in the United States, and eastern Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico. Common names include ...

'', hairy tridens ''

Erioneuron pilosum ''Erioneuron'' is a genus of New World plants in the grass family native to southern North America and southern South America. They are sometimes called by the common name woollygrass. These are tufty grasses with hairy spikelets.Quercus fusiformis ''Quercus fusiformis'' (also often referred to as ''Q. virginiana'' var. ''fusiformis''), commonly known as escarpment live oak, plateau live oak, plateau oak, or Texas live oak, is an evergreen or nearly evergreen tree. Its native range inc ...

''.Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 1992. Plant communities of Texas (Series level): February 1992. Austin, TX: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Natural Heritage Program. 38 p.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4112180 mohriana Trees of the South-Central United States Trees of Coahuila Flora of Oklahoma Plants described in 1901 Oaks of Mexico