Quercus minima

Quercus minima, the dwarf live oak or minimal oak, is a North American species of shrubs in the beech family. It is native to the southeastern United States. It is placed in the southern live oaks section of the genus Quercus (section Virentes).^[4]

Dwarf live oak
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Fagaceae
Genus:	Quercus
Subgenus:	Quercus subg. Quercus
Section:	Quercus sect. Virentes
Species:	Q. minima
Binomial name
Quercus minima (Sarg.) Small
Synonyms[2]
List Quercus virens var. dentata Chapm.[3] Quercus virginiana var. minima Sarg. Quercus andromeda f. nana Trel. Quercus geminata var. succulenta (Small) Trel. Quercus minima f. pygmaea (Sarg.) Trel. Quercus minima var. pygmaea (Sarg.) A.Camus Quercus minima f. reasoneri Trel. Quercus pygmaea (Sarg.) Ashe Quercus succulenta Small Quercus virginiana subsp. dentata (Chapm.) A.E.Murray Quercus virginiana var. dentata (Chapm.) Sarg. Quercus virginiana var. pygmaea Sarg.

Quercus minima is an evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub rarely more than 2 metres (6+1⁄2 feet) tall, reproducing by seed and also by means of underground rhizomes. It commonly forms extensive cloned colonies with many stems, many of them unbranched. The leaves are alternate, up to 12 centimetres (4+1⁄2 inches) long, and toothless or with irregular teeth or lobes. The lobes, when present, are usually spine-tipped. The leaves are retained through the winter, dropping just before or as new growth resumes in late winter or early spring.^[5]

Quercus minima is native to the coastal plain of the southeastern United States, primarily in Florida but extending from there to the Carolinas and eastern Louisiana.^[6] There are reports of the species also growing in Texas, but these populations appear to belong to other taxa.^[5][7]

Quercus minima leaves

References

1. Wenzell, K.; Kenny, L. (2015). "Quercus minima". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
2. "Quercus minima (Sarg.) Small". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
3. Small, John Kunkel (1897). "Shrubs and Trees of the Southern States.—II". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 24 (9): 438.
4. Denk, Thomas; Grimm, Guido W.; Manos, Paul S.; Deng, Min & Hipp, Andrew L. (2017). "Appendix 2.1: An updated infrageneric classification of the oaks" (xls). figshare. Retrieved 2023-02-18.
5. Nixon, Kevin C. (1997). "Quercus minima". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 3. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
6. "Quercus minima". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
7. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Quercus minima​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 2009-05-16.