Quercus libani
Quercus libani
Lübnan meşesi
Deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub or tree to 6 m; young shoots tomentose, often reddish-brown and glabrescent; buds c. 3-4 mm, reddish-brown, oblong, ciliate. Leaves distributed over shoots, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 7-12 x 23 cm, rounded to subcordate at base, margins regularly serrate or irregularly so with 11-16 pairs of mucronate-aristate teeth, upper surface ± glossy green; duller beneath; intercalary veins absent; indumentum of few simple or stellate-dendroid hairs mostly on lower surface, glabrescent, rarely with a ± dense stellate-dendroid indumentum beneath; petiole 8-15 mm. Peduncle almost absent to c. 1 cm, sturdy. Fruit maturing in second year. Cupule hemispherical, c. 20-30 mm diam., pubescent; scales broadly rhomboid, either all adpressed, medium recurved or uppermost elongate and spreading; acorn ± included or shortly exserted, often apically truncate-flattened. Fr. 8-10. Forming pure populations, or mixed with other Quercus spp. , 700-2000 m.
Latakia, Syrian Desert , N.W. Iraq, W. Iran; not in Lebanon despite the specific epithet. Ir-Tur. element.
