Oaks, Quercus spp., are one of the largest groups of trees today, forming an important part of the temperate forests of the Northern Hemisphere, but reaching their most diverse in the tropical dry forests of Southeast Asia and Central America. Red Oaks of the Section Lobatae are endemic to the Americas. They are evergreens, with bristles or prickles on their leaves, and acorns born in scaly cups.
In a paper published in the journal Phytotaxa on 3 August 2016, Susana Valencia-A of the Herbario de la Facultad de Ciencias at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Jose Luciano Sabas Rosales and Oscar Javier Soto Arellano of the Herbario of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía describe a new species of Red Oak from the Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico.
The new species is named Quercus meavei in honour of Jorge Arturo Meave del Castillo, for his work on the botany of the cloud forests and other tropical zones of Mexico. It grows as a tree 20-30 m in height. The trees are found in temperate forests and Oak forests in areas of high humidity and along river banks in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Hidalgo, Puebla, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz states, at altitudes of 1630–2250 m. The trees flower in March, with acorns maturing in September to November.
Quercus meavei, branchlet with leaves and fruits. Valencia-A et al. (2016).
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