Quercus pontica
{{Short description|Species of oak tree}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Quercus pontica-5.jpg
| genus = Quercus
| display_parents = 2
| parent = Quercus sect. Ponticae
| species = pontica
| status = EN
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| authority = K.Koch
}}
Quercus pontica, the Pontic oak or Armenian oak,{{Cite book|last=Brickell|first=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZuxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA730|title=Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers|date=2019-10-01|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-4654-9896-0|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Wiersema|first1=John H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZlWfNTm-boC&pg=PA418|title=World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference|last2=León|first2=Blanca|date=1999-02-26|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-8493-2119-1|language=en}}David More, John White, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trees, (Timber Press Inc., 2002), 379. is a species of endangered oak currently extant to the western Caucasus mountains of Georgia and northeastern Turkey where it grows at altitudes of {{Convert|1,300-2,100|m|abbr=off}}.{{Cite journal|last1=Christina Carrero (Morton Arboretum|first1=Chicago|last2=Genomics)|first2=Joeri Strijk (Alliance for Conservation Tree|date=2020-01-28|title=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Quercus pontica|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/en|journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species}}
Description
Quercus pontica is a deciduous small tree or large shrub growing to {{Convert|6–10|m|abbr=off}} tall, with a trunk up to {{Convert|40|cm|abbr=off}} in diameter and sparse, stout shoots. Its bark is greyish to purple-brown, smooth on young trees but becoming rough later in its life. Its leaves grow to {{Convert|10–20|cm|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} long, rarely 35 cm, and 4–15 cm across. They are ovate, and have a serrated margin with numerous small, pointed teeth. The leaves are covered in hairs when they are young, but become smoother as they age. They become bright green later in life and turn yellow brown in autumn. The flowers are catkins, the male catkins 5–20 cm long. The fruit is a large acorn 2.5–4 cm long, produced in clusters of 2–5 together.
Taxonomy
The specific epithet pontica, refers to the Latin term for Pontus, a historical region near the Black Sea where the tree is found.Archibald William Smith {{google books|ahNMkgoNJ7IC|A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names: Their Meanings and Origins|page=280}} It is not to be confused with the Pontine Marshes outside Rome. Quercus pontica is placed in section Ponticae.{{Cite journal |last1=Denk |first1=Thomas |last2=Grimm |first2=Guido W. |last3=Manos |first3=Paul S. |last4=Deng |first4=Min |last5=Hipp |first5=Andrew L. |date=2017 |title=Appendix 2.1: An updated infrageneric classification of the oaks |website=figshare |doi=10.6084/m9.figshare.5547622.v1 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Appendix_2_1_________An_updated_infrageneric_classification_of_the_oaks/5547622/1 |access-date=2023-02-18 |format=xls |name-list-style=amp }}
Cultivation
It is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in northern Europe.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category}}
External links
- [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=120&taxon_id=242442797 Ornamental Plants from Russia: Quercus pontica]
Other sources
- Rushforth, K. D. Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins.
- Coombes, A. J. Trees. Eyewitness Handbooks.
{{Taxonbar|from=Q683819}}
Category:Garden plants of Europe
Category:Plants described in 1849
{{Quercus-stub}}