Graves oak, Chisos red oak

Quercus chisosensis (Sargent) C. H. Muller; Q. shumardii Buckley var. microcarpa (Torrey) Shinners; Q. stellipila (Sargent) Parks ex Cory; Q. texana var. chisosensis Sargent; Q. texana var. stellapila Sargent

Trees , deciduous, to 13 m. Bark black, roughly furrowed. Twigs light brown to dark reddish brown, (1-)1.5-2.5 mm diam., glabrous or glabrate. Terminal buds brown or reddish brown, ovoid or ellipsoid to subconic, 2-5 mm, glabrous or with tuft of hairs at apex. Leaves: petiole 5-25 mm, glabrate. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 45-140 × 20-120 mm, base rounded (rarely subcordate) to obtuse or cuneate, margins with 3-5 acute lobes, 9-20 awns, apex broadly obtuse or acute to attenuate, occasionally falcate; surfaces abaxially light green or coppery green, glabrous with small axillary tufts of tomentum or pubescent along midrib and veins, adaxially shiny or glossy, glabrous except for scattered pubescence near base and along midrib. Acorns biennial; cup turbinate or deeply cup-shaped, 4.5-8.5 mm high × 7.5-12 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface glabrate, inner surface glabrous to pubescent on inner 2/3, scale tips appressed, less than 4 mm, acute; nut ovoid to ellipsoid, rarely subglobose or oblong, 9-16 × 5.5-11 mm, occasionally striate, glabrous to puberulent, especially at apex, scar diam. 3-6 mm.

Flowering spring. Davis, Glass, and Chisos mountains; above 1200 m; Tex.; n Mexico.

Quercus gravesii reportedly hybridizes with Q . hypoleucoides . As noted above, forms of Q . gravesii and Q . robusta are easily confused and give the impression of belonging to a single morphologic continuum.

Some authors have also used the name Quercus texana for Q . gravesii .