Quercus minima

Quercus minima, the dwarf live oak or minimal oak, is a North American species of shrubs in the beech family. It is native to the southeastern United States.

Dwarf live oak
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus subg. Quercus
Section: Quercus sect. Quercus
Series: Quercus ser. Virentes
Species:
Q. minima
Binomial name
Quercus minima
Synonyms[1]

Quercus minima is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub rarely more than 2 meters (6.7 feet) tall, reproducing by seed and also by means of underground rhizomes. It commonly forms extensive cloned colonies with many stems, many of them unbranched. Leaves are alternate, up to 12 cm (4.8 inches) long, and toothless or with irregular teeth or lobes. Lobes, when present, are usually spine-tipped. Leaves are retained through the winter, dropping just before or as new growth resumes in late winter or early spring.[3]

Quercus minima is native to the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, primarily in Florida but extending from there to the Carolinas and eastern Louisiana.[4] There are reports of the species also growing in Texas, but these populations appear to belong to other taxa.[3])[5]

Quercus minima leaves

References
  1. "Quercus minima (Sarg.) Small". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – via The Plant List.
  2. Small, John Kunkel (1897). "Shrubs and Trees of the Southern States.—II". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 24 (9): 438.
  3. Nixon, Kevin C. (1997). "Quercus minima". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 3. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. "Quercus minima". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  5. "Quercus minima". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
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