Quercus cortesii Liebm.

Mexico (Puebla, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz) 1800 m; Honduras; Belize; Costa Rica 600 - 1500 m; Nicaragua to 1200-1600 m; Panama ;

8-25 m, but may reach 40 m; trunk broad and short;

8-14 x 1.5-3 cm; deciduous; lanceolate or narrowly elliptic; subleathery; apex acute, attenuate, aristate; base cuneate and attenuate; margin cartilaginous, slightly revolute, with 2-5 pairs of not divergent aristate teeth usually towards apical 1/2, sometimes apical 1/3 only or to apical 2/3; dark green, lustrous, soon glabrescent above; paler and glabrous beneath except a few persistent stellate trichomes along midrib, without glandular hairs; midrib slightly prominent adaxially; 10-15 veins pairs, straight, parallel (sometimes slightly winding), impressed adaxially, strongly raised abaxially; petiole 6-15 mm;

staminate inflorescences 5-10 cm; pistillate inflorescences 0.5-1 cm, 1-2 flowered;

acorn 1.4-2 cm, mucronate, rusty pubescent; 1-2 on peduncle 4-8 mm; enclosed 1/3 or 1/2 by cup; cup half-round or top-shaped, with oval, thin, pointed, pubescents, coffee-coloured scales; matures in Autumn of the same year;

– A. Camus : n° 401; – Sub-genus Quercus, section Lobatae, Series Erythromexicanae, Group Acutifoliae; – Hybridizes with Q.salicifolia in Costa-Rica, and with Q.benthamii in Honduras; – Closely related to Q.sartorii Liebm., species considered as a synonym of Q.xalapensis by S.Romero Rangel 2006, though xalapensis has acorns maturing in 2 years; – Q. brenesii is often considered as a true species, although closely related (See the Taxonomical revision of Acutifoliae by S. Romero Rangel ), differing from Q.cortesii in having fewer secondary veins (7 to 11, showing a “s” shape before entering the teeth) and divergent teeth; also Q. brenesii has a yellowish green colour of the upper side of the blade, with possible amber glandular trichomes. Mexico (Veracruz); Nicaragua; Costa Rica; 600-1700 m; – Moreover, Q. gracilior (C.H. Muller Misc. Publ. U.S. Dept. Agric. 477: 77 1942) is likely considered as a true species, in Honduras, with a very short petiole, and a great number of lateral veins. Diagnosis HERE