DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Quercus oblongifolia | Mexican Blue Oak 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Mexican blue oak is found from the Santa Catalina Mountains of
southeastern Arizona into the southwestern corner of New Mexico
[7,12,22,27,37].  It occurs infrequently in western Texas [35].
Scattered populations are found from Coahuila westward to Baja
California Sur, Mexico [27,44,46].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES32  Texas savanna
   FRES33  Southwestern shrubsteppe
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper


STATES : 
     AZ  NM  TX  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CORO  GUMO  SAGU


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
   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 : 
Mexican blue oak is dominant in pure or mixed stands in lower elevation
(less than 5,200 feet [1,585 m]), open, evergreen oak woodlands.  In
encinal communities Arizona white oak (Quercus arizonica) and Emory oak
(Q. emoryi) are codominant with Mexican blue oak and replace it at
higher elevations [8,24,28,32,45].  The Mexican blue oak habitat series
is transitional into semidesert grasslands.  Juniper (Juniperus spp.)
and pinyon (Pinus spp.) occur occasionally in communities where Mexican
blue oak is dominant [5,24,32].  Mexican blue oak is a climax understory
species in the Chihuahua pine (Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana) series
[24].  In the mesic canyons of the southern Trans-Pecos area of Texas,
Mexican blue oak is a characteristic member of the gray oak (Quercus
grisea) series [41].  Mexican blue oak is listed as a dominant or
indicator species in the following publications:

(1)  Forest and woodland habitat types (plant associations) of Arizona
      south of the Mogollon Rim and southwestern New Mexico [3]
(2)  Preliminary classification for the coniferous forest and woodland
      series of Arizona and New Mexico [24]
(3)  Vegetation of the Santa Catalina Mountains: community types and
      dynamics [33]
(4)  Riparian forest and scrubland community types of Arizona and New
      Mexico [40]
(5)  Plant communites of Texas (Series level) [41].

Species associated with Mexican blue oak that were not previously
mentioned in the Distribution and Occurrence information are Arizona
rosewood (Vauquelinia californica), shrubby buckwheat (Eriogonum
wrightii), catclaw mimosa (Mimosa biuncifera), bullgrass (Muhlenbergia
emersleyi), plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia), fendlerbush
(Fendlera rupicola), and wolftail (Lycurus pheleoides) [2,3,5,17].

Related categories for Species: Quercus oblongifolia | Mexican Blue Oak