Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox
Quercus wislizeni, known by the common name interior live oak,<ref name=trop1/> is an evergreen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in western North America.
DescriptionEdit
It is a large shrub or treeTemplate:Sfn growing to Template:Convert tall, although where it is common in the low-elevation Sierra Nevada foothills it seldom exceeds Template:Convert. The dark-green leaves—appearing grayish from a distance—are usually small, Template:Convert long,<ref name="tktimb2">Template:Cite book</ref> thick, and often spiny-toothed at higher elevations, particularly on young trees. The male flowers are on catkins, the female flowers in groups of 2–4 in leaf axils.<ref name="tktimb2" /> The acorns are Template:Convert long, and mature the second season (about 18 months) after flowering.Template:Sfn
Specimens can live for up to 200 years.<ref name="tktimb2" />
{{#invoke:Gallery|gallery}}
TaxonomyEdit
Although originally published by Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle as "wislizeni",<ref name="de Candolle"/> some sourcesTemplate:Sfn mistakenly spelled the specific epithet "wislizenii". Correct spelling is with one "I", per ICN article 60C.2.<ref>J. McMeill et al. (eds). 2012. International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. Regnum Vegetabile 154. Koeltz Scientific Books. Template:ISBN</ref> Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus's specimen was thought by de Candolle to have been collected in Chihuahua, Mexico. German-born American botanist Georg Engelmann later corrected the location to the American fork of the Sacramento River near Auburn, California.
California physician and botanist (and one of the founding fathers of the California Academy of Sciences) Albert Kellogg described an oak in an 1855 publication as Quercus arcoglandis (spur acorn oak),<ref>Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. 1(1):25 (1855)</ref> apparently the same species as Q. wislizeni. This clearly predates French-Swiss botanist de Candolle's 1864 name, and if confirmed to be this same taxon would have priority.
Currently there are two recognized varieties of interior live oak:Template:Sfn
- Q. wislizeni A. DC. var. wislizeni (1864)
- Q. wislizeni A. DC. var. frutescens Engelm (1878).<ref>Engelm., Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 3:396 (1878).</ref> This is an invalid taxon. Engelmann's Q. wislizeni var. frutescens description is virtually identical to de Candolle's Q. wislizeni, while Engelmann's Q. wislizeni description most closely matches Kellogg's Q. morehus.<ref name=Keuter>Template:Cite journal</ref>
EtymologyEdit
It was named for its collector, Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus (1810–1889).<ref name="trop1" />
Distribution and habitatEdit
Q. wislizeni is found in many areas of California<ref>Template:Calflora</ref> in the United States continuing south into northern Baja California in Mexico. It generally occurs in foothills, being most abundant in the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada, but also widespread in the Pacific Coast Ranges—where since 1980 it has been known as a separate species Quercus parvula<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>Template:Sfn—and the San Gabriel Mountains.
EcologyEdit
The interior live oak is a red oak (section Lobatae) in the California Floristic Province (series Agrifoliae). Q. wislizeni hybridizes with California black oak (Q. kelloggii) (= Quercus × morehus, Abram's oak). All California red oaks show evidence of introgression and/or hybridization with one another.
A common alliant tree is gray pine (Pinus sabiniana).<ref name=Keuter/>
Deer browse the tree's foliage.<ref name=":0" />
UsesEdit
Humans use the wood as a fuel source.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> The acorns are edible.<ref name="tktimb2" />