Quercus alnifolia
Quercus alnifolia | |
Author | Poech 1842 Enum. Pl. Cypr. 12 1842. |
Synonyms | cypria Jaub. & Spach 1843 , not Kotschy |
Local names | Cyprus golden oak; |
Range | Cyprus; introduced in Europe (France) in 1815; |
Growth habit | 6-8 m tall; smaller in cultivation (2-3 m); slow growing; |
Leaves | 3-6 cm long, 2-5 cm wide; evergreen; leathery; rounded or broadly oval; apex obtuse, sometimes shortly acuminate; base rounded; margin toothed ( 4-9 pairs of short teeth in apical 1/2) except near base, often revolute; glossy dark green, convex above, with impressed veins; golden felted below, at least when young, then brown, later blackish, glabrescent only on veins; 5-6 veins pairs, sunken above, prominent beneath; petiole 0.5-1 cm long, densely tomentose; |
Flowers | male catkin 1.5-2.5 cm long, hairy, densely flowered; female catkin 1-1.5 cm long, with 2-3 flowers; |
Fruits | acorn pointed, conical ovoid, 1.5-3 cm long and 0.8-1.6 cm wide; wider near apex; enclosed for 1/4 of length by cyathiform cup; cup 1.4-2.5 cm wide, 0.8-1.2 cm high, with long, greyish tomentose scales, the upper ones spreading or reflexed; narrow basal scare; acorns germinate from the base; ripen first year; |
Bark, twigs and |
bark dark ash grey, furrowed; young twigs densely hairy, with grey to brown lenticels; bud with deciduous stipules; |
Hardiness zone, habitat | hardy; all types of soils; slow growing; |
Miscellaneous | -- A. Camus : tome
1, p. 430, n° 106; -- Sub-genus Cerris, Section Ilex; -- Rare in cultivation; rare also in Cyprus, where it occurs only on Troodos Mount, near 800 m; -- Resembles Q.ilex; sometimes confused with Q.coccifera; |
Subspecies and varieties |
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Pictures |
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