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).

Plant: tree or shrub; momoecious; to ca. 10 m high, the bark dark blackish-gray; young twigs usually densely woolly during first year, dark reddish-brown beneath hairs, the older twigs glabrescent, gray, remaining smooth Leaves: unlobed, lanceolate, elliptic, oblanceolate, or oblong-lanceolate, 2-6 cm long, 1-2.3 cm wide, 1.8-3 times as long as wide, woolly when young, subglabrous at maturity except for a tuft of tomentum at the base of the blade below, persisting about 1 year, deciduous in spring; apex acute; base cordate to rounded, oblique, or subtruncate; petiole 3-7 mm long, woolly; midvein straight to sinuate, longitudinally striate, nearly flat to raised above, prominent below; lateral veins ca. 6-9 pairs, faint to moderately prominent; secondary veins very weak to indistinct; blade coriaceous, shiny green on both surfaces; margin entire or more commonly sinuate with 1-3(-7) small, spinosely tipped teeth INFLORESCENCE: staminate flowers in aments; pistillate flowers solitary or in groups on spikes, these sometimes abbreviated, each pistillate flower with a separate involucre Flowers: mostly wind-pollinated, unisexual, the perianth much reduced or absent; staminate flowers in heads or aments, the perianth greenish, the stamens ca. 4; pistillate flowers usually tricarpellate, solitary or in clusters of about 3 or more, subtended individually or in groups by an involucre that develops into a woody cupule enclosing or subtending the mature fruit(s) Fruit: ACORNS 1.5-1.8 cm long; cap 5-6 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, woolly within; scales of cap papery, not much thickened basally; nut-shell woolly within Misc: Chaparral, pinyon-juniper, oak-woodlands; 1000-2100 m (3400-7000 ft); Apr-May (fr. Aug-Oct) REFERENCES: Landrum, Leslie R. Fagaceae. 1994. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 203-214