Mexican Oak

Quercus carmenensis is known in the United States from only one collection from the Chisos Mountains, Texas; otherwise, it is known in the Sierra del Carmen region, Coahuila, Mexico.

Shrubs or trees , deciduous, shrubs 0.5-2 m, rhizomatous, trees (on better sites) to l2 m, trunk 0.75 m diam. Bark light gray, checkered or furrowed. Twigs often strikingly red, 1-1.5 mm diam., sparingly (rarely densely) stellate-pubescent, somewhat glabrescent and gray 2d year. Buds light brown, nearly round, 1-1.5 mm, indumentum similar to twigs. Leaves: petiole usually strikingly red, (2-)5-l0 mm, ca. 1 mm diam. Leaf blade obovate or narrowly obovate, (20-)30-50 × l0-30 mm, thin to moderately leathery, base cuneate to rounded, margins shallowly and irregularly lobed or coarsely toothed in distal 1/2, rarely subentire, teeth mucronate, secondary veins 9-l2 on each side, branching or passing directly to teeth, apex acute, sometimes broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially light green or yellow-green, prominently pubescent with minute, erect velvety hairs, adaxially surfaces dark green, sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent. Acorns solitary or paired, subsessile or short-pedunculate (immature); cup (mature) unknown; scales (immature) light brown, tip acute, canescent. Nut unknown. Cotyledons unknown.

Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila).

Shrublands and woodlands on limestone; of conservation concern; 2200-2500m.

Quercus carmenensis is a species of oak endemic to the Pine-oak forests of Mexico and the Southwestern USA. This tree occurs only at moderately high elevations in a band between approximately 5000 to 6500 feet in elevation.

Known by the common name Mexican oak, this small tree is deciduous and manifests light gray colored bark that is checkered or furrowed. Twigs are frequently a pronounced red, sparsely stellate-pubescent, somewhat glabrescent. The buds display as a light brownish in color and are almost circular. The leaf has a petiole usually reddish and one half to one cm thinnish to rather leathery, with a base cuneate to rounded, and leaf margis normally shallowly and irregularly lobed.

Quercus carmenensis, the Mexican oak, is a tree species native to Brewster County, Texas, and Coahuila, Mexico. It grows in pine-oak forests at elevations of 1,500–1,950 metres (4,920–6,400 feet). It is a deciduous species with gray bark and red twigs. The leaves are lanceolate with irregular lobing along the margins.