Quercus sinuata Walter

Shrub or tree, usually to 20 m, occasionally to 26 m, 1 m dbh. Branchlets pale grey and glabrous or minutely pubescent. Leaves deciduous, (2.5–)3–12(–14) × (1.5–)2.5–6 cm, oblong to oblanceolate, upper surface dull green and glabrous, lower surface silvery or dull green with minute eight- to ten-rayed stellate hairs or glabrous, 7–11 secondary veins on each side of the midrib, margins entire or irregularly dentate or with sinuous lobes, apex rounded, but rarely attenuate and three-lobed; petiole 0.2–0.5 cm long. Infructescence short with (one to) two cupules. Cupule saucer-shaped, 0.8–1.5 × 0.2–0.8 cm; scales ovate and flat, grey with red margins. Acorn ovoid to oblong, with one-eighth to one-quarter of its length enclosed in the cupule, 0.7–1.5 cm long, stylopodium short. Flowering March, fruiting October (USA). Muller 1942, Nixon 1997. Distribution MEXICO: Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas; USA: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas. Habitat Oak woodlands, scrubland and along streams between 0 and 600 m asl. Typically on limestone. USDA Hardiness Zone 5–6. Conservation status Least Concern. Illustration Nixon 1997, Sternberg 2004; NT752. Taxonomic note There are two varieties of Q. sinuata: var. sinuata is a tree to 20 m with a solitary trunk, leaves 5–12 cm long and acorns 1.2–1.8 cm long. It has a marked preference for low, wet areas between 0 and 400 m asl and is found in the southeastern United States. Var. breviloba (Torr.) C.H. Mull. (Bigelow Oak) is a multistemmed shrub or tree to 5 m, leaves 3–6 cm long and acorns 0.7–1.2 cm long. It occurs in oak woodland and scrub between 200 and 600 m asl, from the Edwards Plateau south into Mexico. The two varieties meet along streams in central Texas, where they produce a range of intermediate forms (Nixon 1997).