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).[5]
Description
Quercus minima leaves
Quercus minima is an evergreen or semi-evergreenshrub 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.[6]
Distribution and habitat
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.[7] There are reports of the species also growing in Texas, but these populations appear to belong to other taxa.[6][8]
Q. minima has been observed growing in environments such as open rocky areas, pine flatwoods, slash pine flatwoods, and along wetland shores.[9]
^Kartesz, John T. (2014). "Quercus minima". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
^Florida State University Herbarium Database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2021. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Robert K. Godfrey, Robert Kral, and Sidney McDaniel. States and counties: Florida: Calhoun, Franklin, Highlands, Leon, Liberty, Osceola, and Washington.
