QUERCUS MINIMA (Sarg.) Quercus virens var. dentata Chapm. Fl. S. States, 421. 1860.
Not O. dentata Bartr. 1794.
Quercus Virgmiana var. minima Sarg. Silva N. A. : tot. 1895.
A low shrub forming wide patches by the extensive spreading of the underground stems. Branches erect or ascending, less than I meter tall, solitary or several together, simple, or branched above; leaves firm, obovate or sometimes oblong to oblanceolate, 3-10 cm. long, acute or apiculate at the apex, repand-serrate, or the upper ones sometimes entire, those of the shoots often lobed, all glabrous or finely tomentose beneath, gradually or abruptly narrowed into short petioles which vary from 2-5 mm. in length ; staminate aments very slender, 1-4 cm. long, tomentose ; acorns solitary or several at the ends of peduncles which vary from 1-3 cm. in length, or sometimes sessile ; cups turbinate hemispheric, about 1.5 cm. broad, white-tomentose, the bracts appressed, thick ened on the back, except near its edge where they form a fringe ; nuts ovoid or elliptic, 1.5-1.8 cm. long, dark brown, glabrous.
Sandy sterile pine barrens, Florida, chiefly near the coast. Flowers in March and April ; matures its fruit in the fall.
This peculiar oak cannot pose as a variety of Ouercus Virgini ana under any reasonable considerations. It may be of interest to note that it bears much the same relation to Quercus Virginiana as Castanea nana does to Castanea pumila or Castanea dentata. The habit of Quercus minima, with its underground stems, and low erect branches which are usually much less than one meter in height, is enough to separate it specifically from the gigantic forest tree Quercus Virginiana. In addition to the differences in habit just mentioned, the leaf types are characteristic and the nerves in the leaves of Quercus minima are much more prominent than they are in the live oak. The cups seem to furnish a diagnostic char acter, those of the Quercus minima being of a turbinate type, while those of Quercus Virginiana are hemispheric.