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 Oak (section Virentes).
Description
Quercus minima is an
evergreen or
semi-evergreen shrub rarely more than tall, reproducing by seed and also by means of underground
. It commonly forms extensive cloned colonies with many stems, many of them unbranched. The
leaves are alternate, up to 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.
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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.
Q. minima has been observed growing in environments such as open rocky areas, pine flatwoods, slash pine flatwoods, and along wetland shores.[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.]
Conservation
The IUCN conservation status is Least Concern (LC).[ Quercus minima
]
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