''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'', commonly called Bigelow oak or Bigelow's oak, is a

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of ''

Quercus sinuata ''Quercus sinuata'' is a species of oak comprising two distinct varieties, ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' and ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''sinuata'', occurring in southeast North America. Description ''Quercus sinuata'' is a deciduous tr ...

'', a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

that grows in parts of the southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and northeastern

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 Guatema ...

. Common names for this

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

are shallow-lobed oak, white shin oak, scaly-bark oak, limestone Durand oak, and shortlobe oak. The less specific common name bastard oak may refer to either of the two

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of ''Quercus sinuata'', var. ''sinuata'' and var. ''breviloba''. Other common names include

scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to: *the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species. In California *California scrub oak (''Quercus berberidifolia''), a widespr ...

or shin oak, but these names may refer to a number of other low growing, clump forming oak species, subspecies or varieties. For clear differentiation in common reference,

American Forests American Forests is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization, established in 1875, and dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. The current headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Activities The mission of American ...

uses Durand Oak to mean ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''sinuata'' and Bigelow oak to mean ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'', a shrubby variety of ''Quercus sinuata'' distinguished in part by its habit of forming clonal colonies in parts of its range.

Description

The Bigelow oak grows to a height of , with a

diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

of and gray flaking

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

. 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 ...

range from long by 2–4.5 cm wide, with

shapes A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie on ...

Duncan & Duncan describe as "narrowly obovate to oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic", with "broadly rounded and bristleless" tips. The

twig A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or bush. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away. The color, texture, and patterning of the twig bark are ...

s are

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

or may have sporadic hairs. Per Duncan & Duncan, the leaf undersides have "numerous minute

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

stelate hairs with horizontally spreading rays".

Historical description

John Torrey John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botany, botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, he was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while he also pursued botanical work, focus ...

wrote the first published description of what came to be called Bigelow oak: ''QUERCUS OBTUSIFOLIA'', var.? ''BREVILOBA'': ''foliis subcoreaceis obovato oblongis basi cuneatis, lobis brevibus obtusis supra viridibus subtus pallidis pubescentibus; fructibus sessilibus solitariis vel geminis, cupula depressa hemispherica, glande oblongo-ovato obtusa.'' ''Quercus obtusifolia'' var.? ''breviloba'': Almost leathery leaves, rectangular or shaped like a section through the long axis of an egg, attached at the narrower end and with a length to width ratio between 3:2 and 2:1, tapering to a wedge shape at the base. Lobes of leaves obtusely shallow and green on the upper surface. Pale on the underside and covered with short, soft hairs. Stalkless acorns, solitary or in pairs. Cupule shaped like a hemisphere that has been flattened as if pressed down from the top. Acorns, somewhat rectangular or egg shaped with a length to width ratio between 3:2 and 2:1, attached at the broader end and blunted or broadly rounded at the tip, forming an angle greater than ninety degrees at the apex.

Taxonomy

John Milton Bigelow John Milton Bigelow (June 23, 1804 – July 18, 1878) was an American physician and botanist. He had a successful medical practice, and also, a keen interest in botany - especially native plants with medical applications. He participated as a bot ...

collected and pressed the first specimen of Bigelow oak in a mountain gorge near Howard Springs () in what is now

Crockett County, Texas Crockett County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,098. The county seat is Ozona. The county was founded in 1875 and later organized in 1891. It is named in honor ...

. Bigelow's botanical collection focused on Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Synonymous names for this taxon include ''

Quercus durandii ''Quercus sinuata'' is a species of oak comprising two distinct varieties, ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' and ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''sinuata'', occurring in southeast North America. Description ''Quercus sinuata'' is a deciduous tr ...

'' var. ''breviloba'' (Torr.)

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...

and '' Q. sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' (Torr.) C. H. Mull. Because it was given by

Samuel Botsford Buckley Samuel Botsford Buckley (May 9, 1809 – February 18, 1884) was an American botanist, geologist, and naturalist. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1836. Buckley investigated the botany of the southern United States and discovered many new s ...

to name some

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

he believed to be varieties but are now understood to be separate species, the term "durandii" is currently regarded as "nomen confusum." ''Quercus sinuata'', first described by Thomas Walter in '' Flora Caroliniana'' in 1788, claims no subspecies and only two varieties, var. ''sinuata'' and var. ''breviloba''. Var. ''breviloba'' was first described as ''Q. obtusifolia'' var. ''breviloba'' by John Torrey in 1859. In order of chronology, subsequent reclassifications of ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' are: * ''Q.annulata'' Buckl.1861 * ''Q.undulata var. obtusifolia'' A.DC 1864 * ''Q.sansabeana'' Buckl. ex M.J.Young 1873 * ''Q.undulata var. breviloba'' (Torr.) Engelm. 1877 * ''Q.durandii var. sansabeana'' (Buckl. ex M.J.Young) Buckl. 1883 * ''Q.breviloba'' (Torr.) Sarg. 1895 * ''Q.pseudocrispata'' A.Camus 1939 * ''Q. sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' (Torr.) C.H.Muller 1944 ''Journal of the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...

. 25: 439'' * ''Q.durandii var. breviloba'' (Torr.) Palmer 1945 * ''Q.sinuata subsp breviloba'' (Torr.) E.Murray 1983

Etymology

''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''quercus'', "oak" + ''sinuata,'' species epithet from nominative feminine singular of Latin ''sinuatus','' participle of ''sinuo'', "to bend or bow out in curves" + var. (variety or ''varietas'') ''breviloba'', a combination of Latin ''brevis,'' "short," and ''loba,'' "lobed") is an infraspecific

scientific name 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 ...

inspired by the shallowly wavy

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

characteristic of the taxon. The common English word "oak," designating a shrub or tree of the genus ''Quercus'', descends from the Proto-Germanic ''*eiks'' through the Old English ''ac'', "oak tree," and the Middle English ''oke''. Bigelow oak takes its name from John Milton Bigelow. Applied to the thickets produced by the clonal habits of some North American oaks, a French word for "oak grove" or "a place where oaks grow," ''chênerie'', gave rise to the English "shinnery." The word "shin" in "shin oak" thus becomes a

back-formation In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...

from the French rather than an allusion to the low "shin high" growth habit of the shinnery.

Distribution

The principal distribution of ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' is in central

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 ...

and the northern

states of

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. Disjunct populations occur in the

Arbuckle Mountains The Arbuckle Mountains are an ancient mountain range in south-central Oklahoma in the United States. They lie in Murray, Carter, Pontotoc, and Johnston counties.

of south central

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 ...

and, approximately to the northwest, on a low hill in Custer County just north of

Foss, Oklahoma Foss is a town in Washita County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 151, an 18.9 percent increase from 127 at the 2000 census. History The history of Foss began when settlers from the area of the Wilson post ...

Ecology

''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' hybridizes with ''

Quercus stellata ''Quercus stellata'', the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, tops of ridges also grows in poor soils, and is resistant to ro ...

'' to yield '' Quercus × macnabiana'' nothovar. ''mahonii'' (E.J. Palmer) Govaerts (1998). Apart from thicker acorn cups, longer nuts and smaller leaves, ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' is further differentiated from var. ''sinuata'' by its clonal habit. Although some individuals develop in tree-form, other individuals of ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' grow as

clonal colonies A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in s ...

. Clonal colonies of ''Quecus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' are believed to be more likely to occur where soils are light or roots have been disturbed. A clonal colony of var. ''breviloba'' originates from a single zygote that matures into a viable acorn. Following germination, the free-living individual plant grows vegetatively by the production of

ramets A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in s ...

. A clonal colony or genet of Quercus sinuata var. breviloba appears as thickets of ramets that may grow as high as five meters from a single extensive underground root system. The clustered stems of a clonal individual may cover large geographical expanses, creating the appearance of many individual small trees or shrubs. The genetic uniformity of the ramets identifies the colony as a singular genetic individual. Fragmentation may result in parts of the colony becoming geographically isolated from the main colony, but these fragments do not create new genets. They remain constituents of the original genet. Consequently, a clonal individual of var. ''breviloba'' may exist in more than one place.

Phytosociology

Associations

= Forest & woodland

= Shrub & herb vegetation

National champion

The largest known Bigelow oak in the United States appeared on the

National Register of Champion Trees The National Register of Champion Trees is a list of the largest tree specimens found in the United States as reported to American Forests by the public. A tree on this list is called a National Champion Tree. The National Register of Champion Tr ...

in 2017. Located in

Travis, Texas Travis is an unincorporated community in southeast Falls County, Texas, United States. It is named after Travis Fleming Jones, who surveyed the site for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway in the 1880s. The population was up to 300 in the 19 ...

, the national champion specimen of ''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' was nominated in 2007 by Eric Beckers and Jim Houser and crowned on May 12, 2017, when it was last measured. By that time, the champion tree had attained a trunk circumference of , a height of and a crown spread of . The

formula for assigning point scores to nominated trees, Trunk Circumference (in inches) + Height (in feet) + 1/4 Average Crown Spread (in feet), resulted in an overall score of 190 points.

References

External links

''Quercus sinuata'' var. ''breviloba'' in Flora of North America @ efloras.org
*https://www.cpp.edu/~larryblakely/whoname/who_bigelow.htm {{Taxonbar, from1=Q7271334, from2=Q24692242 sinuata var. breviloba Trees of Coahuila Trees of Nuevo León Trees of the Southern United States Trees of Tamaulipas Trees of the South-Central United States Oaks of Mexico