Quercus floribunda Lindl. ex A. Camus

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Credits

Allen Coombes & Roderick Cameron (2021)

Recommended citation
Coombes, A. & Cameron, R. (2021), 'Quercus floribunda' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-floribunda/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

Common Names

  • Moru Oak
  • Tilonj Oak

Synonyms

  • Quercus dilatata Royle
  • Quercus dealbata Royle
  • Quercus dilatata Lindl. ex A. DC.
  • Quercus himalayana Bahadur

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

dbh
Diameter (of trunk) at breast height. Breast height is defined as 4.5 feet (1.37 m) above the ground.

Credits

Allen Coombes & Roderick Cameron (2021)

Recommended citation
Coombes, A. & Cameron, R. (2021), 'Quercus floribunda' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-floribunda/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Tree to 30 m, 3 m dbh. Bark dark reddish brown or almost black, fissured into oblong scales. Branchlets dark brown or black with dense grey silky tomentum. Leaves sub-evergreen, 3–12 × 1.5–5.5 cm, ovate to elliptic or lanceolate, grey-green or glaucous, leathery and glabrous, 8–12 secondary veins on each side of the midrib, margins entire or with four to nine teeth, apex acute to obtuse; petiole 0.3–1 cm long and glabrous. Male catkins crowded, drooping, lax, up to 7.5 cm long, bracts lanceolate. Infructescence 1.5–3 cm long with two to three cupules. Cupule cup-shaped, 2–2.4 × 0.5–0.8 cm; scales appressed and pubescent. Acorn ovoid, with one-third to half of its length enclosed in the cupule, 2–2.5 cm long, stylopodium persistent. Flowering April to May, fruiting August to October of the following year (Pakistan). (Nasir 1976; Menitsky 2005; Orwa 2009).

Distribution  AfghanistanIndia Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh NepalPakistan North

Habitat Himalayan oak forest between 1200 and 2900 m asl.

USDA Hardiness Zone 8

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

One of the most imposing oaks of the Himalayas, it occupies the space between Quercus baloot, which grows at lower altitudes, and Q. leucotrichophora and Q. semecarpifolia, which take over at higher altitudes. Seeds germinate readily on falling and seedlings grow well in the shade of mature trees, benefitting from their protection. It has been observed that growth in situ is faster than that of Q. leucotrichophora. It is rarely found in pure populations, more often being in association with conifers such as Picea smithiana (where the largest specimens are found), and with Aesculus indica, Acer caesium, Cornus capitata, Betula alnoides, Pinus wallichiana, Cedrus dedoara, Abies pindrow, Taxus sp., and Cupressus torulosa (le Hardÿ de Beaulieu & Lamant 2010). The site from which EPAK 172 was collected had even more glamorous associates, including Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana and Ulmus wallichiana (fieldnotes).

An old tree at High Beeches, England was identified in 2005 by Allen Coombes. It came from Aldenham House before 1932 and was grown as Q. agrifolia or Q. wislizeni; it measured 15 m × 68 cm dbh in 2018 (Tree Register 2020). This case aside, Quercus floribunda is represented in the United Kingdom by young specimens, all grown from EPAK 172, collected in Pakistan in 1995 and quite widely distributed to British gardens from Kew (as Q. glauca): two plants at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens measured 9.8 m × 23.3 cm dbh in 2020 (Barry Clarke pers. comm.) and 4.3 m × 4.5 cm dbh in 2012 respectively (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 2020). Four plants from the same collection are at Wakehurst Place. Shaun Haddock also collected this species and at his Arboretum de la Bergerette, France, the hot summers and fertile soil result in generally ‘staggering growth’. His first collection was made in 1995 from Kalam in the Swat Valley, Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan, at around 2100 m, where winter snows are deep. At La Bergerette this reached 4 m in nine years (Lamant 2004) and in 2021 was 7.2 m × 20 cm at 1.2 m. He also made gatherings in 1998 at about 2200 m at Murree, northeast of Islamabad and the larger of two trees from this collection was 8.1 m tall × 21 cm at 1.2 m having overtaken the earlier collection probably due to being in a location with more moisture. In France at least, Q. floribunda seems to be a ‘good doer’ and drought-resistant (S. Haddock, pers. comm. 2021; Grimshaw & Bayton 2009).

The epithet means ‘flowering profusely’, in reference to the male catkins, which are long and numerous. This species hybridizes naturally with Q. leucotrichophora, giving rise to Q. × parkeri A. Camus.