Quercus crassifolia Bonpl.

Mexico (Chiapas, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querretaro, San Luis Potosi, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Zacatecas); Guatemala ; 1300 to 2800 m ; introduced in G.B. in 1939 by G. Hinton;

10-15 m, often only 2-3 m; trunk to 0.5 m in diameter and more; often small shrub 2-3 m;

5-15 x 3-7 cm; late deciduous; thick and stiff, coriaceous, rugose above; oboval, oblong-oboval or elliptic; apex acute, acuminate or obtuse, aristate; base rounded or subcordate; margin cartilaginous, revolute and wavy, with 3-8 pairs of sharp bristle-tipped teeth mostly at apical 2/3 or sometimes more, teeth often assymetrical; yellowish green, shiny, rough and glabrous above except fascicled trichomes along midrib; persistent, woolly, yellowish, orange or light brown tomentum beneath, made of fascicled hairs 1-1.5 mm long with a stalk 0,2 mm long, easy to remove; 6-12 vein pairs impressed above, prominent abaxially; bullate and papillose epidermis; petiole tomentose 0.6-1.2 cm long; young leaves conspicuously with red glandular trichomes;

April-May; staminate catkins tomentose, 10 cm long at least, with 30-40 flowers; pistillate flowers 1 to 3, on a very short, tomentose, 5-8 mm long peduncle;

acorn ovoid 1-1.2 cm; singly or paired; subsessile or short-stalked 3-15 mm; glabrous, light coffee; enclosed 1/3 by half-round cup; cup with thin, pubescent, apically rounded scales ; matures in 2 years, in October.

– A. Camus : n° 304; – Sub-genus Quercus, section Lobatae; Subsection Erythromexicanae, Group Crassifoliae; – For Tracey Parker (Trees of Guatemala, 2008), Q. brachystachys is a true species. – Hybrid with Q. crassipes = Q. x dysophylla Benth.