Interior live oak, var. wislizeni, is the tree form of Quercus wislizeni, evergreen, with a rounded top and smooth bark aging to broadly ridged, and growing to some 60' tall. The leaf blade is from 3/4" to 2" long, rather firm, entire-margined to spiny-toothed, mostly oblong to elliptic or lanceolate, and glabrous and shining both above and below but lighter yellow-green on the undersurface.  The petioles are 1/4" to 1/2" long.  The male flowers are in catkins about 1" to 2-1/4" long and the pistillate flowers are solitary in many-bracted involucres in the upper leaf axils.  The fruit is an acorn with a cup 1/2" to 11/16" wide and an ovoid to obconic nut that is tapered to the tip and 3/4" to 1-
1/2" long, maturing the second year.  This live oak may be found in interior canyons, slopes and valleys in chaparral and foothill woodland to 6000', blooming March to May.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Quercus 2) wislizeni.
Pronunciation: KWER-kus wis-liz-EN-ee-eye.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.