Emory oak, bellota

Quercus hastata Liebmann

Trees or shrubs , evergreen, to 15 m. Bark dark brown to black, deeply fissured. Twigs dark reddish brown, 1-3 mm diam., pubescent. Terminal buds reddish brown, ovoid to subconic, 2.5-6.5 mm, glabrous except for tuft of hairs at apex, occasionally hairy on distal 1/2. Leaves: petiole 3-7(-10) mm, pubescent. Leaf blade ovate to narrowly oblong to obovate, planar, 28-95 × 15-45 mm, base cordate, margins entire or spinose, with up to 13 awns, apex blunt to acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for tuft of tomentum on each side of midrib at base of blade, rarely completely glabrous, adaxially not rugous, glabrous or with a few hairs along midrib. Acorns annual; cup cup-shaped, 5-7.5 mm high × 7-12 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/2 nut, outer surface pubescent to sparsely puberulent, inner surface pubescent to floccose, scale tips appressed, blunt; nut ellipsoid to oblong, 10-18 × 6-10 mm, glabrous to puberulent, especially at apex, scar diam. 3-5.5 mm.

Flowering spring. Foothills and slopes; 1000-2200 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; n Mexico.

Quercus emoryi reportedly hybridizes with Q . graciliformis (= Q . × tharpii C. H. Muller).