Large shrubs or moderate trees , deciduous or subevergreen, to 10 m. Bark gray, fissured. Twigs gray, 1-2 mm diam., sparsely or densely stellate-tomentulose or tomentose when young. Buds dark red-brown, ovoid to subglobose, 1-2 mm, stellate hairs causing yellowish color, at least on outer scales; stipules persistent, 1-4, subulate, pubescent, at base of terminal buds. Leaves: petiole 3-10 mm. Leaf blade oblong to elliptic or ovate, (15-)25-35(-80) × (7-)15-30(-40) mm, thick and leathery, base cordate or rounded, margins minutely revolute, entire or dentate with mucronate teeth, secondary veins 6-10 on each side, branched, apex acute, sometimes obtuse, rarely rounded; surfaces abaxially dull gray-green or yellowish, minutely stellate-pubescent with interlocking hairs, secondary veins very prominent, adaxially dull green, very sparsely and minutely stellate-pubescent, secondary veins slightly raised. Acorns solitary or paired, subsessile or on peduncle 0-30 mm; cup from deeply goblet- to deeply cup-shaped, 4-10 mm deep × 8-15 mm wide, enclosing to 1/2 nut, scales broadly ovate to oblong, proximal scales slightly or markedly tuberculate and whitish canescent, tips closely appressed, red-brown, thin, glabrate; nut light brown, ovoid to narrowly ovoid or ellipsoid, 12-18 × 8-12 mm. Cotyledons connate. Flowering spring. Igneous or dolomitic slopes, oak woodlands, juniper woodlands, desert chaparral; usually above 1500 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango). Some of the specimens referred to Quercus endemica by C. H. Muller should be placed in Q . grisea . Numerous hybrids between Quercus grisea and other white oaks, including Q . gambelii , Q . mohriana , Q . arizonica , and numerous species in northern Mexico, have been reported. In the Hueco and Quitman mountains of trans-Pecos Texas, putative hybrids of Q . grisea × Q . turbinella Greene occur.

Plant: tree; to 8 m high, the bark light grayish, furrowed; young twigs densely yellowish woolly, the older twigs losing most hairs within a year, becoming gray, remaining more or less smooth Leaves: unlobed, oblong, elliptic-oblong, oblanceolate, or lanceolate, or less often ovate, mostly widest centrally or above, 2.4-10.4 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, 2-3.4 times as long as wide, densely to sparsely covered with stellate and sometimes glandular hairs below, sparsely pubescent to glabrous above, persisting about one year, deciduous in spring or summer; stellate hairs of lower leaf surface with 4-9(-11) spreading, somewhat curled arms; apex obtuse to acute; base cordate to obtuse; petiole 3-10 mm long, woolly; midvein slightly raised to nearly flat above, prominent below; lateral veins prominent below, scarcely distinguishable from secondary veins above; secondary veins forming a reticulate pattern, somewhat raised below; blade coriaceous, dull or slightly lustrous above; margin entire or shallowly toothed, often slightly revolute, the teeth asymmetrical, apically directed 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 4-6; 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 to ca. 2 cm long, solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3 on peduncles 0-2 cm long; cap nearly hemispheric, 6-11 mm long, 10-16 mm wide, shortly woolly within; scales with thickened bases; nut-shell subglabrous within except for pubescent tip Misc: In riparian and pine forests; 1050-2200 m (3500-7200 ft); Apr-Jun (fr. Sep-Nov) REFERENCES: Landrum, Leslie R. Fagaceae. 1994. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 203-214