''Quercus lancifolia'' is a species of

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

found in Central America and Mexico.McVaugh, R. 1974. Flora Novo-Galiciana: Fagaceae. Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium 12:39-40
in English with line drawing on page 39

Description

''Quercus lancifolia'' is a large forest tree up to tall with a trunk or more in diameter. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are up to long, sometimes with no lobes or teeth but sometimes with undulations or sharp teeth; they are green on top, and both whitish and waxy on the underside.

Habitat and range

''Quercus lancifolia'' inhabits montane

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

s between 500 and 2,400 meters elevation. It can be a dominant species where it occurs. In Mexico it is found in the southern

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that ...

of Hidalgo, Veracruz, and Puebla states, the

Sierra Madre de Oaxaca The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca is a mountain range in southeastern Mexico. It is primarily in the state of Oaxaca, and extends north into the states of Puebla and Veracruz. Geography The mountain range begins at Pico de Orizaba, and extends in a sout ...

in Puebla and Oaxaca states, the Chiapas Highlands, and the

Sierra Madre de Chiapas The Sierra Madre is a major mountain range in Central America. It is known as the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in Mexico. It crosses El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ...

of Chiapas and adjacent Guatemala. In Central America it inhabits the

Maya Mountains The Maya Mountains are a mountain range located in Belize and eastern Guatemala, in Central America. Etymology The Maya Mountains were known as the ''Cockscomb'' or ''Coxcomb Mountains'' to Baymen and later Belizeans at least until the mid ...

of Belize and the highlands of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and western

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Conservation and threats

''Quercus lancifolia'' is affected by habitat loss and habitat fragmentation across most of its range. Of Mexico's original 3.1 million ha of cloud forest, only 28% remained by 2002, and half of what remained was degraded or secondary forest. In Veracruz only 10% of the original cloud forest area remains. Although the population has not been quantitatively assessed, there are no reports of continued decline. The species' conservation status is assessed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15338342 lancifolia Oaks of Mexico Trees of Central America Cloud forest flora of Mexico Flora of the Central American pine–oak forests Flora of the Central American montane forests Flora of the Chiapas Highlands Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Flora of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca Sierra Madre de Chiapas Flora of the Talamancan montane forests Plants described in 1830