Trees , evergreen, to 10 m. Bark gray or whitish, closely furrowed. Twigs light brown, 1-1.5 mm diam., densely or sparsely stellate-tomentose, soon glabrate. Buds reddish brown, subspheric to broadly ovoid, 1-2 mm, glabrous or basal scales pubescent; stipules persistent about terminal buds. Leaves: petiole 2-5(-8) mm. Leaf blade oblong to elliptic, occasionally lanceolate or ovate, (20-)30-60(-80) × (5-)10-25(-30) mm, base cuneate to cordate, margins entire, undulate, sometimes irregularly toothed especially toward apex, secondary veins 7-8(-10) on each side, branched, apex acute or broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially densely and loosely glandular-tomentose, quickly glabrate or persistently floccose, especially about base of midrib, at maturity strongly glaucous, adaxially dull pale green, bluish green, or glaucous, sparsely stellate-tomentose, quickly glabrate. Acorns solitary or paired, subsessile or on peduncle 4-12 mm; cup cup-shaped, about 6-8(-l3) mm deep × 10-13 mm wide, enclosing ca. 1/3 nut, scales to 1-1.5 mm wide, moderately, regularly tuberculate near base of cup, gray-pubescent; nut light brown, ovoid or oblong, 12-17(-19) × (7-)10-12 mm, glabrate or puberulent about apex. Cotyledons connate. Flowering in spring. Common in high grasslands and midelevation woodlands, mesas, and canyons; 1300-1650 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Baja California South, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Coahuila).

Plant: tree; to 4-8 m high, the bark light gray, deeply furrowed; young twigs subglabrous to glabrous, gray to reddish brown, the epidermis sometimes falling in thin flakes, the older twigs usually becoming slightly roughened, lightish gray but sometimes blackened Leaves: unlobed, oval to oblong, 2-10 cm long, 1-2.7 cm wide, 1.5-4 times as long as wide, woolly when very young, glabrescent at maturity, persisting about 1 year, deciduous in spring; apex broadly obtuse to slightly emarginate; base rounded to cordate, often oblique; petiole ca. 2-4 mm long, often waxy, often reddish; midvein nearly flat or raised above, prominent below; lateral veins ca. 7-10 pairs, flat to slightly raised above, weak to moderately prominent below; secondary veins forming a reticulate pattern, visible above and below; blade coriaceous, blue-green to gray-green, nearly concolorous; margin usually entire, less often slightly sinuate 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 3-5; 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 1-1.5 cm long; cap ca. 7 mm long, 10-15 mm across, woolly within; scales with thickened bases; nut-shell glabrous to thinly pubescent apically within Misc: In oak woodlands or scattered in grasslands; 850-1800 m (2800-6000 ft); Apr-May (fr. Oct-Nov) REFERENCES: Landrum, Leslie R. Fagaceae. 1994. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 203-214