Quercus hintoniorum - Trees and Shrubs Online

Glossary

dbh

Diameter (of trunk) at breast height. Breast height is defined as 4.5 feet (1.37 m) above the ground.

family

A group of genera more closely related to each other than to genera in other families. Names of families are identified by the suffix ‘-aceae’ (e.g. Myrtaceae) with a few traditional exceptions (e.g. Leguminosae).

hybrid

Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).

The leaves of Quercus hintoniorum are only thinly pubescent beneath. Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, May 2011. Image Francisco Garin.

Shrub or small tree to 5 m tall or a low rhizomatous shrub at high elevations. Young shoots sparsely hairy becoming glabrous. Leaves evergreen, broadly elliptic to obovate, to 6 × 4 cm, revolute and sinuate at the margin to shallowly lobed with up to 8 spine-tipped teeth on each side. Apex rounded to bluntly pointed, spine-tipped, base cordate. They are dark green and slightly glossy above, tomentose when young losing most of the hairs with age, tomentose and glandular beneath, the tomentum not hiding the leaf surface, becoming glossy green beneath with denser tufts of hairs in the axils of the prominent veins. Petiole to 6 mm long, red and glabrous. Fruits single or paired on tomentose peduncles to 7 mm long, cupules top-shaped, acorns hemispherical to ovoid, ripening the second year. (Nixon & Muller 1993).

Distribution Mexico Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas

Habitat Evergreen forests, pine-oak forest and spruce forest at 2300–3300 m.

USDA Hardiness Zone 8

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

Quercus hintoniorum is represented in the UK at Chevithorne Barton, Devon, and Thenford House, Northamptonshire; in Belgium at Arboretum Wespelaar; in the Netherlands at Arboretum Trompenburg; and at Arboretum de la Bergerette and Arboretum du Passodou in France.

At Arboretum des Pouyouleix, France, there are three plants deriving from seed collected by Thierry Lamant from Arteaga, Coahuila, Mexico, in 2003. All have been fruiting for several years, and the largest was 5.5 m × 9 cm dbh in 2021 (B. Chassé, pers. comm.).

Plants at Iturraran Botanic Garden, Spain, are from a collection on Cerro Potosí, Nuevo León, Mexico, in 2003. A hybrid raised there is thought to have Q. rubra as the other parent.

Named in honour of the Hinton family. Jaime Hinton, son of George Hinton, after whom Q. hintonii is named, introduced Kevin Nixon to this species. It had previously been confused with Q. hypoxantha.

Quercus hintoniorum at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, May 2011. Image Francisco Garin.

Quercus hintoniorum: Ripening acorns at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, August 2009. Image Francisco Garin.

New growth on Quercus hintoniorum at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, May 2021. Image Francisco Garin.

Conspicuous flowering on Quercus hintoniorum at Arboretum des Pouyouleix, France, in May 2016. It was grown from seed collected in Coahuila, Mexico in 2003. Image Béatrice Chassé.

Quercus hintoniorum in flower at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, April 2011. Image Francisco Garin.

Acorns maturing on Quercus hintoniorum at Arboretum des Pouyouleix, France, in August 2021. Image Béatrice Chassé.

Glossy green leaves on Quercus hintoniorum at Halloughton Grange, Warwickshire, UK, in September 2021. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

An acorn developing on Quercus hintoniorum at Thenford House, Northamptonshire, UK, in September 2021. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

Quercus hintoniorum: The tomentum on the lower leaf surface never hides the veins and is lost with age. Thenford House, September 2021. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

Quercus hintoniorum foliage and acorns at Thenford House, Northamptonshire, UK in September 2022. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

Glossy green leaves on Quercus hintoniorum at Thenford House, Northamptonshire, UK in September 2022. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

The almost smooth leaf undersides of Quercus hintoniorum at Thenford House, Northamptonshire, UK in September 2022. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

Quercus hintoniorum foliage at Chevithorne Barton, Devon, UK in September 2022, showing the glossy upper leaf surface. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

Quercus hintoniorum foliage at Chevithorne Barton, Devon, UK in September 2022, showing the sparsely hairy lower leaf surface. Image Maricela Rodríguez.

Quercus hintoniorum: A young shoot showing expanding red leaves and male catkins at Arboretum des Pouyouleix, France, in April 2023. Image Béatrice Chassé.

Quercus hintoniorum: A suspected hybrid with Q. rubra at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, August 2015. Image Francisco Garin.

Quercus hintoniorum: A suspected hybrid with Q. rubra at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain, January 2016. Image Francisco Garin.

Foliage of *Quercus hintoniorum at Iturraran Botanical Garden. Spain, from seed collected on Cerro Potosoi, Nuevo Leon. Image © Jan De Langhe - Ghent UBG.

Foliage of Quercus. hintoniorum at Iturraran Botanical Garden, Spain showing the leaf underside. Image © Jan De Langhe - Ghent UBG.

Quercus hintoniorum Nixon & C.H.Mull.

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