Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
Introductory
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Pavek, Diane S. 1993. Quercus pungens. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/quepun/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
QUEPUN
SYNONYMS :
Quercus undulata Torr. var. pungens Engelm. [2]
SCS PLANT CODE :
QUPU
COMMON NAMES :
pungent oak
TAXONOMY :
The scientific name of pungent oak is Quercus pungens Liebm. It is a
member of the beech family (Fagaceae) [17].
Pungent oak hybridizes with gray oak (Quercus grisea) in the Guadalupe
Mountains of New Mexico and Texas [37].
LIFE FORM :
Tree, Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Pungent oak is widespread throughout the Edwards
Plateau and Trans-Pecos region of Texas. Scattered, isolated
populations continue southward into the state of Tamaulipas and proceed
westward into Chihuahua, Mexico [10,21,27]. Populations of pungent
oak extend northward into the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas [16,21] and
westward to the mountains of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern
Arizona [17]. Pungent oak has been reported from southern Colorado
[4]; however, Harrington [14] was unable to locate any specimens
supporting this range extension.
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral - mountain shrub
FRES35 Pinyon - juniper
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
STATES :
AZ NM TX MEXICO
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
7 Lower Basin and Range
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K019 Arizona pine forest
K023 Juniper - pinyon woodland
K031 Oak - juniper woodlands
K032 Transition between K031 and K037
K059 Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
SAF COVER TYPES :
66 Ashe juniper - redberry (Pinchot) juniper
67 Shin (Mohrs) oak
235 Cottonwood - willow
237 Interior ponderosa pine
239 Pinyon - juniper
240 Arizona cypress
241 Western live oak
242 Mesquite
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Pungent oak occurs with true mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus)
and desert ceanothus (Ceanothus greggii) as a dominance type in the
chaparral formations in the Guadalupe Mountains, Texas [9,26] and the
montane chaparral of the Chihuahuan Desert region [15]. Pungent oak
is a characteristic member of juniper (Juniperus spp.)-oak (Quercus
spp.) communities and intermixes with desert scrub savanna in the
canyons of central and western Texas [8,33]. In Texas pungent oak is
a dominant or characteristic species in the Mohr shin oak (Quercus mohriana)
series, oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) series, and pungent
oak-true mountain-mahogany series [33]. Pungent oak is described as a
dominant species in the following publications:
(1) Vegetation and community types of the Chihuahuan Desert [15]
(2) Plant communities of Texas (Series level) [33]
Several species that were not previously included in Distribution and
Occurrence information but occur with pungent oak are cane cholla
(Opuntia imbricata), purplefruited pricklypear (O. phaecantha), Mexican
buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa), Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana), hairy
tridens (Erioneuron pilosum), and plateau oak (Quercus fusiformis)
[7,8,9,22].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
The oaks of Arizona, which includes pungent oak, rarely grow large
enough to use as timber. The wood may be used locally for fuel and
fence posts [17].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
NO-ENTRY
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Poisoning by pungent oak was not described in the literature, but oak
poisoning of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats is a problem on some
rangelands in the southwestern United States. Poisoning occurs when oak
foliage or acorns are exclusively consumed, which may happen in the spring
when other food is scarce [18,24].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Pungent oak is a native, evergreen to subevergreen shrub or
medium-size tree [10,27]. It grows 3.3 to 6.6 feet (1-2 m) tall as a
shrub and to 26 feet (8 m) tall as a tree [11]. The thick, simple,
coarsely toothed leaves are 3.5 inches (9 cm) long [10,27]. Female
catkins produce 1 to 3 flowers; male catkins have numerous flowers.
Fruits are solitary or paired acorns [35] about 0.4 inch (1 cm) long
[10,17].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Sexual reproduction: Pungent oak is monoecious. Acorns are produced
annually [10,35]. No information was found in the literature on seed
germination requirements. However, the other southwestern oaks (Quercus
spp.) have no seed dormancy. Most germination occurs within 30 days
after acorns drop from the trees [23].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Pungent oak is found in gravelly or rocky soils [2] that are often
shallow (less than 9.8 inches [25 cm] deep) [29,33]. Soil texture may
be stony clay [30]. Pungent oak grows on middle to upper slopes and
in lower canyons of desert mountains [11,15,27] and along arroyos [35].
Pungent oak occurs in open shrublands on dry sites or in closed canopy
woodlands on more moist sites [33].
Pungent oak is found in semiarid to subhumid climates with hot
summers and mild winters [30]. It occurs at moderate elevations from
3,500 to 6,000 feet (1,067-1,829 m) [2,10,27,33].
Pungent oak occurs on but is not restricted to
calcareous soils derived from limestone [11].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Pungent oak occurs in climax oak woodlands or chaparral and
oak-juniper communities. In Texas the mixed-grass prairie has been
replaced by oak-juniper disclimax [29].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Pungent oak flowers in late spring. Fruits mature the first autumn
after flowering [2]. The leaves persist 1 year until new leaves are
produced [2]; however, they may drop in late winter [6,11].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Pungent oak is present as a low-growing form in desert grassland of
southeastern Arizona. Benson and Darrow [2] speculated that these small
trees were possibly the survivors of repeated ancient or recent fires.
Oaks generally survive low intensity fast fires [23]. Fire return
intervals in the oak woodlands are longer than in the past due to fire
suppression and fuel removal by overgrazing [36].
All of the oaks of Arizona, which includes pungent oak, sprout
prolifically following top-kill by fire [23].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Tree with adventitious-bud root crown/soboliferous species root sucker
Tall shrub, adventitious-bud root crown
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Fire top-kills pungent oak; surviving plants are stimulated to sprout [7].
Unburied acorns are probably killed by fire.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
The response of pungent oak to fire was not found in the literature.
Because pungent oak sprouts vigorously following removal of top growth,
recovery should be fairly rapid, similar to the response of other southwestern
oaks that sprout (e.g., Emory oak [Quercus emoryi]) [36]. Site factors
will influence the length of time required to achieve prefire crown cover.
Potentially, the postfire community could be more dense from pungent oak
sprouting than the original community. If establishment depends on off-site
seed, rates of recovery will vary depending on the proximity of seed trees
and animal facilitation.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Prescribed burning is recommended to open up dense Ashe juniper stands
and to encourage pungent oak, other shin oaks (Quercus spp.), and
plateau oak to sprout [1,7].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Quercus pungens
REFERENCES :
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White, Larry D., ed. Prescribed range burning in the Edwards Plateau of
Texas: Proceedings of a symposium; 1980 October 23; Junction, TX.
College Station, TX: Texas Agricultural Extension Service, The Texas A&M
University System: 22-26. [11430]
2. Benson, Lyman; Darrow, Robert A. 1981. The trees and shrubs of the
Southwestern deserts. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press.
[18066]
3. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
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5. Bryant, Fred C.; Demarais, Steve. 1991. Habitat management guidelines
for whte-tailed deer in south and west Texas. In: Lutz, R. Scott;
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weed control; range and wildlife management. Volume 22. Lubbock, TX:
Texas Tech University, College of Agricultural Sciences: 9-13. [18350]
6. Bryant, F. C.; Kothmann, M. M. 1979. Variability in predicting edible
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7. Bryant, F. C.; Launchbaugh, G. K.; Koerth, B. H. 1983. Controlling
mature ashe juniper in Texas with crown fires. Journal of Range
Management. 36(2): 165-168. [13813]
8. Bryant, Vaughn B., Jr. 1974. Late quaternary pollen records from the
east-central periphery of the Chihuahuan Desert. In: Wauer, Roland H.;
Riskind, David H., eds. Transactions of the symposium on the biological
resources of the Chihuahuan Desert region, United States and Mexico;
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9. Burgess, Tony L.; Northington, David K. 1974. Desert vegetation in the
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10. Correll, Donovan S.; Johnston, Marshall C. 1970. Manual of the vascular
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mosaic of the Chihuahuan Desert?. In: Genoways, Hugh H.; Baker, Robert
J., eds. Biological investigations in the Guadalupe Mountains National
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of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
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FEIS Home Page
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