STUDIES IN THE QUERCUS UNDULATA COMPLEX I. A PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

Abstract

T ucker , J ohn M. (U. California, Davis.) Studies in the Quercus undulata complex. I. A preliminary statement. Amer. Jour. Bot. 48(3): 202–208. Illus. 1961.—The taxonomic history of Quercus undulata , a highly variable, problematic complex of the Southwest, is discussed. Conservatively treated as a single species, it comprises a wide range of forms which at one extreme approach Q. gambelii morphologically, and, at the other, Q. grisea, Q. turbinella , and other species. The postulate was made that Q. undulata had arisen through hybridization between these very different oaks. Field observations and preliminary study of numerous population samples confirm this postulate. (Detailed morphological analyses are in progress.) Seven species have apparently been involved— Q. gambelii (the “common denominator” of the complex) has hybridized in different parts of its range with one or another of the following: Q. arizonica, Q. turbinella, Q. havardii, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. mohriana , and Q. grisea. The latter 6 species are discussed individually, and the extent to which each contributes to the complex, and the area in which this occurs, are indicated.