''Quercus rysophylla'', the loquat leaf oak, is a Mexican species of

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 ...

in the

red oak The genus Oak, ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many List of the largest genera of flowering plants, large genera, is Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, divided into subgenus, subgen ...

section (''Quercus'' section ''Lobatae''). It is native to the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

in the States of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, and

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

in northeastern Mexico.

Description

''Quercus rysophylla'' is a large tree, up to tall. It has smooth pale gray bark, which ages and becomes rough, deeply cracked and dark gray. The leaves are lanceolate (lance shaped), up to long. It has acorns that are biennial, ripening the year after flowering.

Habitat

It is normally found growing in humid

canyons A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...

and on north facing slopes, in

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud c ...

s and oak or oak–pine forests. It grows on limestone and igneous substrates. It is normally found from meters elevation. The largest known population is in

Cumbres de Monterrey National Park The Cumbres de Monterrey ( es, Parque Nacional Cumbres de Monterrey, ; English: "Summits of Monterrey") is a national park of Mexico located in the northern portion of the Sierra Madre Oriental in the states of Nuevo León and Coahuila, near the c ...

. It is also present in

Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve The Sierra Gorda () is an ecological region centered on the northern third of the Mexican state of Querétaro and extending into the neighboring states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí. Within Querétaro, the ecosystem extends from ...

Taxonomy

It was originally published and described by

Charles Alfred Weatherby Charles Alfred Weatherby (1875–1949) was an American botanist. Weatherby was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Charles Nathaniel Weatherby and his wife, the former Grace Weld. Not long after Charles Alfred's birth, the family moved to Colorado ...

in 1910. When Weatherby published his new tree, he made an error, he spelled 'rysophylla', the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

refers to the Greek term ῥυσός (rhysos) meaning wrinkled and φύλλον (phyllon) for leaf. He should have used the correct spelling rhysophylla. Some botanists and publications change the epithet to rhysophylla. Although, the Melbourne Code, states it should be uncorrected, therefore the original spelling, rysophylla, is deemed correct. Other incorrect spellings 'risophylla', 'rhizophylla' and 'rizophylla' can be found. It gained the common name 'Loquat oak' or 'loquat-leaf oak', from the superficial resemblance of the leaves in shape and texture to those of the loquat (''

Eriobotrya japonica The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'') is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is in the family ...

'').

References

External links

photo of herbarium specimen collected in Nuevo León in 1993
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5502745 rysophylla Endemic oaks of Mexico Trees of Tamaulipas Trees of Nuevo León Trees of San Luis Potosí Trees of Veracruz Trees of Hidalgo (state) Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Plants described in 1910 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Cloud forest flora of Mexico