''Quercus parvula'', the Santa Cruz Island oak, is an evergreen
red oak
The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...
(Series ''Agrifoliae'', Section ''
Lobatae'') found on north-facing
Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz Island ( Spanish: ''Isla Santa Cruz'', Chumash: ''Limuw'') is located off the southwestern coast of Ventura, California, United States. It is the largest island in California and largest of the eight islands in the Channel Islands ...
slopes and in the
California Coast Ranges
The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains.
Ph ...
from
Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria.
Santa Barba ...
north to
Mendocino County
Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah.
Mendocino County consists wholly ...
. It was taxonomically combined with ''
Quercus wislizeni
''Quercus wislizeni'', known by the common name interior live oak, is an evergreen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in many areas of California in the United States continuing south into northern Baja California in Mexico. It genera ...
'' until resurrected as a separate species by Kevin Nixon in 1980.
[K. Nixon, "A Systematic Study of ''Quercus parvula'' Greene on Santa Cruz Island and Mainland California," Master's Thesis, 1980.] The
type locality
Type locality may refer to:
* Type locality (biology)
* Type locality (geology)
See also
* Local (disambiguation)
* Locality (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
of ''Q. parvula'' var. ''shrevei'' (originally described by C.H. Muller as ''Q. shrevei'') is Palo Colorado Canyon in Monterey County.
Three varieties of ''Q. parvula'' are currently recognized:
[Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2015 Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html July 17, 2015]
''Q. parvula'' differs morphologically from its close relative ''Q. wislizeni'' in the following ways:
[
* Leaf blades are larger, > (2)4 cm long rather than < 4(6) cm
* Leaf blades are thinner, generally < 0.26 mm near the apex rather than usually > 0.26 mm
* Current year ]twigs
A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or bush.
The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away. The color, texture, and patterning of the twig bark are ...
are 5-sided rather than ± roundish in cross section
* Leaf petioles and current year twigs are glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...
to sparsely hairy rather than moderately to very hairy
* Nut tips are blunt rather than more sharply pointed
*