Quercus planipocula Trel.

Tree to 20 m tall and 60 cm or more dbh, bark black and ridged. Young shoots with dense yellow tomentum becoming glabrous or partially tomentose when mature. Leaves deciduous in Mexico, falling as the young leaves expand, usually evergreen in cultivation, 15–21 × 7–11 cm, elliptic to ovate, green or purple when young, the upper surface with thin tomentum of yellow stellate hairs or glabrous and dark green, lower surface with a yellowish grey tomentum. When mature they are rigid and leathery and more or less glabrous above except along the midrid and thinly tomentose beneath: veins 12–16 on each side of the midrib, margin entire, sinuate or with occasional bristles, apex acute or acuminate, base rounded to deeply cordate; petiole pinkish, 1–1.4 cm long, tomentose when young becoming nearly glabrous. Infructescence with one to two cupules, peduncle to 1.5 cm. Cupule saucer-shaped, 2–3 cm diameter and up to 8 mm tall, the margins thickened and enrolled; scales thin and blunt, light brown to grey. Acorn broadly ovoid, with one-third to half of its length enclosed in the cupule, 1.5–2 cm long and up to 1.6 cm wide, with a stylopodium. Maturation biennial. (Trelease 1924; Gonzalez & Labat 1987)

add ref (PDF) Contribución al conocimiento del género quercus “fagaceae” en el estado de Jalisco / L.M. González Villarreal.

Distribution  Mexico Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Sinaloa

Habitat Dry tropical forest, oak forest, pine-oak forest between 680 and 1960 m asl.

USDA Hardiness Zone 8

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Least concern (LC)