Quercus skinneri Benth.

Quercus skinneri was described in 1841 from specimens collected in Acatenango, Guatemala, by German botanist Karl Theodor Hartweg, while collecting for the Horticultural Society. Bentham (1841) commented that Hartweg had discovered a new species of oak with acorns of ‘a most unusual size’ and, referring to the septa dividing the acorn, he added ‘the internal structure of a walnut.’ In 1842 he described these as ‘false septa formed from the endocarp through the intersecting furrows of the seed’ (Bentham 1839–1857, p. 91). In the 1841 publication, he quoted Hartweg, who commented that he had seen acorns with such projections in other species, but in Q. skinneri the degree of projection was much greater. Bentham also added that seed received by the Horticultural Society had arrived dead, but that living plants were hopefully on their way.

A tree at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was growing well when seen in September 2021. This was grown from seed collected in southern Oaxaca in 2009 and was planted in 2015. The same collection failed at Tregrehan, Cornwall.

Of two plants in Iturraran Botanic Garden, Spain, both grown from seed collected at Lago Atitlán, Guatemala, the larger, from 2009 seed, was about 10 m tall in 2021, although it lost about 3 m due to heavy snow 3 years earlier (F. Garin pers. comm. 2021). A plant from this collection failed at Penrice Castle in Wales.

Bentham named it after George Ure Skinner, a Scottish businessman, diplomat, and amateur botanist, who, according to Bentham (1841), was the first to discover the species and send it to England (in the same article, Bentham wrote that the new species of oak was ‘among the many curious discoveries made in Guatemala by Mr. Hartweg.’) Hartweg had an oak named after him the year before Q. skinneri was published (Q. hartwegii, a synonym of Q. obtusata).