Quercus sapotifolia Liebm.

Costa-Rica; Honduras; El Salvador; Guatemala; Panama; Belize; South-East Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Oriental (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz); 1300 m - 2000 m; Nicaragua 800 - 1500m ;

4-15 m tall, sometimes more;

8-12 x 2-5 cm; evergreen; oblanceolate to oblong, or elliptic; leathery; coriaceousweakly rough; apex slightly acute or narrowly rounded, often bristle-tipped; base narrowly rounded or cordate; margin entire, revolute, somewhat crispate; hairless on both sides, except some tufts of fasciate and glandular hairs at axils beneath; epidermis abaxially flat or barely papillose, not bullate; 8-14 vein pairs, slightly impressed above, raised beneath, at an angle of more than 45° with the midrib; petiole hairless or glabrate, 3-6 mm long;

male inflorescences 6-12 cm long; pistillate inflorescences 1-3 cm long, bearing 1-6 flowers;

acorn 0.8-1.4 cm in diameter, narrowly ellipsoid; mucronate and glabrescent; singly or to 3 together; subsessile or with glabrous stalk 0.5-2 cm long; pericarp hairy inside; enclosed 1/4 by cup; cup halfround to slightly turbinate, with triangular, 2-3 mm long, pointed, shiny tawny scales; maturing in 1 year;

not hardy;

– A. Camus : n° 329; – Sub-genus Quercus, section Lobatae, Series Erythromexicanae; – For some Authors, (Govaerts & Frodin), Q.perseifolia is a true species (= Q.elliptica Liebm. not Née). – For numerous Authors of Central America (Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua), Q.bumelioides is synonym of Q.copeyensis, which is not possible as Q. copeyensis is in the Quercus Section; but for Susana Valencia Avalos, 2004, Q.bumelioides is a synonym of sapotifolia, and for Tracey Parker (Trees of Guatemala, 2008), it is a true species…. – Hybridizes with Q.elliptica Née in low, dry sites, and with Q.salicifolia in high, wet sites; – Resembles Q. pinnativenulosa , which has acorns maturing in 2 years, 3-4.5 mm long buds, 5-17 mm long petioles, leaves narrower (to 3 cm) and veins weakly raised beneath. – Resembles also Q. delgadoana, which has biennal fruits, leaves grayish-green or glaucous, narrowly oblong, lanceolate or elliptic, and 9 to 20 pairs of secondary veins. – See HERE to compare with some other whole-leaved oaks .