Quercus aucheri
Quercus aucheri, known as Aucher's oak or the Boz-Pirnal oak is a species of oak tree in the family Fagaceae. It is found in limited portions of the Aegean islands of Greece and parts of Anatolian Turkey. It is placed in section Ilex.
Description and taxonomy
Q. aucheri grows as a small evergreen tree or shrub, attaining heights of up to 10 meters. It is close to the kermes oak, and not always distinguished from it, however, it also bears a close resemblance to other species in the Mediterranean holly oak group. In contrast to kermes oak, it has sweet instead of bitter acorns that germinate from the base instead of from the tip. Additionally, the petioles are short in Q. aucheri, and acorns are hairy, sometimes appearing white as a result. The leaves are also hairy on the underside where the kermes oak's leaves are not. Leaf morphology is highly variable, and leaves with both entire and serrated margins may be found on the same tree.The species was first described by Hippolyte Jaubert and Édouard Spach in 1843, and its species epithet commemorates Pierre Aucher-Éloy. Quercus aucheri no doubt belongs in section Ilex, however, it is unclear whether it is closer to holm oak, as suggested by a molecular analysis, or kermes oak, as suggested by a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis by Hipp et al., as well as morphological comparisons. Others yet have argued for a closer relationship to ballota oak from the western Mediterranean, on account of similarities in leaf and acorn morphology.