Quercus pungens Liebm.

pungent oak

More info for the terms: shrub, tree

Pungent oak is a native, evergreen to subevergreen shrub or
medium-size tree [10,27]. It grows 3.3 to 6.6 feet (1-2 m) tall as a
shrub and to 26 feet (8 m) tall as a tree [11]. The thick, simple,
coarsely toothed leaves are 3.5 inches (9 cm) long [10,27]. Female
catkins produce 1 to 3 flowers; male catkins have numerous flowers.
Fruits are solitary or paired acorns [35] about 0.4 inch (1 cm) long
[10,17].

Pungent oak is widespread throughout the Edwards
Plateau and Trans-Pecos region of Texas. Scattered, isolated
populations continue southward into the state of Tamaulipas and proceed
westward into Chihuahua, Mexico [10,21,27]. Populations of pungent
oak extend northward into the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas [16,21] and
westward to the mountains of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern
Arizona [17]. Pungent oak has been reported from southern Colorado
[4]; however, Harrington [14] was unable to locate any specimens
supporting this range extension.

More info for the terms: fire regime, fire suppression, fuel, grassland, top-kill

Pungent oak is present as a low-growing form in desert grassland of
southeastern Arizona. Benson and Darrow [2] speculated that these small
trees were possibly the survivors of repeated ancient or recent fires.
Oaks generally survive low intensity fast fires [23]. Fire return
intervals in the oak woodlands are longer than in the past due to fire
suppression and fuel removal by overgrazing [36].

All of the oaks of Arizona, which includes pungent oak, sprout
prolifically following top-kill by fire [23].

FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find FIRE REGIMES".

Prescribed burning is recommended to open up dense Ashe juniper stands
and to encourage pungent oak, other shin oaks (Quercus spp.), and
plateau oak to sprout [1,7].

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More info for the term: phanerophyte

Phanerophyte

Pungent oak is found in gravelly or rocky soils [2] that are often
shallow (less than 9.8 inches [25 cm] deep) [29,33]. Soil texture may
be stony clay [30]. Pungent oak grows on middle to upper slopes and
in lower canyons of desert mountains [11,15,27] and along arroyos [35].
Pungent oak occurs in open shrublands on dry sites or in closed canopy
woodlands on more moist sites [33].

Pungent oak is found in semiarid to subhumid climates with hot
summers and mild winters [30]. It occurs at moderate elevations from
3,500 to 6,000 feet (1,067-1,829 m) [2,10,27,33].

Pungent oak occurs on but is not restricted to
calcareous soils derived from limestone [11].

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

66 Ashe juniper - redberry (Pinchot) juniper
67 Shin (Mohrs) oak
235 Cottonwood - willow
237 Interior ponderosa pine
239 Pinyon - juniper
240 Arizona cypress
241 Western live oak
242 Mesquite

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

More info for the term: shrub

FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral - mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon - juniper
FRES21 Ponderosa pine

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the terms: forest, shrub, woodland

K019 Arizona pine forest
K023 Juniper - pinyon woodland
K031 Oak - juniper woodlands
K032 Transition between K031 and K037
K059 Trans-Pecos shrub savanna

Fire top-kills pungent oak; surviving plants are stimulated to sprout [7].
Unburied acorns are probably killed by fire.

More info for the term: series

Pungent oak occurs with true mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus)
and desert ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii) as a dominance type in the
chaparral formations in the Guadalupe Mountains, Texas [9,26] and the
montane chaparral of the Chihuahuan Desert region [15]. Pungent oak
is a characteristic member of juniper (Juniperus spp.)-oak (Quercus
spp.) communities and intermixes with desert scrub savanna in the
canyons of central and western Texas [8,33]. In Texas pungent oak is
a dominant or characteristic species in the Mohr shin oak (Quercus mohriana)
series, oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) series, and pungent
oak-true mountain-mahogany series [33]. Pungent oak is described as a
dominant species in the following publications:

(1) Vegetation and community types of the Chihuahuan Desert [15]
(2) Plant communities of Texas (Series level) [33]

Several species that were not previously included in Distribution and
Occurrence information but occur with pungent oak are cane cholla
(Opuntia imbricata), purplefruited pricklypear (O. phaecantha), Mexican
buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana), hairy
tridens (Erioneuron pilosum), and plateau oak (Quercus fusiformis)
[7,8,9,22].

More info for the terms: shrub, tree

Tree, Shrub

Poisoning by pungent oak was not described in the literature, but oak
poisoning of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats is a problem on some
rangelands in the southwestern United States. Poisoning occurs when oak
foliage or acorns are exclusively consumed, which may happen in the spring
when other food is scarce [18,24].

AZ NM TX MEXICO

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Pungent oak flowers in late spring. Fruits mature the first autumn
after flowering [2]. The leaves persist 1 year until new leaves are
produced [2]; however, they may drop in late winter [6,11].

More info for the terms: cover, facilitation, seed

The response of pungent oak to fire was not found in the literature.
Because pungent oak sprouts vigorously following removal of top growth,
recovery should be fairly rapid, similar to the response of other southwestern
oaks that sprout (e.g., Emory oak [Quercus emoryi]) [36]. Site factors
will influence the length of time required to achieve prefire crown cover.
Potentially, the postfire community could be more dense from pungent oak
sprouting than the original community. If establishment depends on off-site
seed, rates of recovery will vary depending on the proximity of seed trees
and animal facilitation.

More info for the terms: root crown, root sucker, secondary colonizer, shrub

Tree with adventitious-bud root crown/soboliferous species root sucker
Tall shrub, adventitious-bud root crown
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed

More info for the terms: monoecious, seed

Sexual reproduction: Pungent oak is monoecious. Acorns are produced
annually [10,35]. No information was found in the literature on seed
germination requirements. However, the other southwestern oaks (Quercus
spp.) have no seed dormancy. Most germination occurs within 30 days
after acorns drop from the trees [23].

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

7 Lower Basin and Range
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains

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More info for the term: climax

Pungent oak occurs in climax oak woodlands or chaparral and
oak-juniper communities. In Texas the mixed-grass prairie has been
replaced by oak-juniper disclimax [29].

Quercus undulata Torr. var. pungens Engelm. [2]

The scientific name of pungent oak is Quercus pungens Liebm. It is a
member of the beech family (Fagaceae) [17].

Pungent oak hybridizes with gray oak (Quercus grisea) in the Guadalupe
Mountains of New Mexico and Texas [37].

More info for the term: fuel

The oaks of Arizona, which includes pungent oak, rarely grow large
enough to use as timber. The wood may be used locally for fuel and
fence posts [17].