Quercus rugosa, commonly known as the netleaf oak, is a broad-leaved tree in the beech and oak family Fagaceae. It is native to southern North America.
Description Quercus rugosa is an evergreen shrub or tree. The bark is brown and scaly. The leaves are thick and leathery, rarely flat, usually cupped, up to long, dark green on the top but covered with thick reddish-brown hairs on the underside. Short diagnosis in Latin, description and commentary in Spanish. The young leaves are also very hairy and usually red or yellow.
Name Quercus rugosa is Latin for "wrinkled oak". In Spanish it has many common names, like "encino negro" (black oak) or "encino quiebra hacha" (axe-breaking oak). Colloquially it is known as "chaparro", a word which has also passed into the lexicon as slang for a short person.
Distribution It is widespread in Mexico, Guatemala and the southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas). It grows extensively in the temperate highlands of central Mexico, particularly on hillsides and in narrow gorges, between elevation. It is associated and usually coexists with other oaks, alders, pines and Texas madrones. The Netleaf Oak has been widely planted in California cities as a drought-tolerant street tree, following street tree die-offs during dry spells.
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See also Madrean pine-oak woodlands Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt pine-oak forests
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Photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Durango in 1904