Quercus ithaburensis

Quercus ithaburensis, the Mount Tabor oak, is a tree in the beech family.

Quercus ithaburensis
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Fagaceae
Genus:	Quercus
Subgenus:	Quercus subg. Quercus
Section:	Quercus sect. Cerris
Species:	Q. ithaburensis
Binomial name
Quercus ithaburensis Decne.
Synonyms[2]
List Quercus aegilops var. ithaburensis Quercus aegilops subspecies ithaburensis Quercus macrolepis subspecies ithaburensis Quercus aegilops L., rejected name Quercus agriobalanidea Papaioann. Quercus cretica Bald. Quercus echinata Lam. Quercus ehrenbergii Kotschy Quercus graeca Kotschy Quercus hypoleuca Kotschy ex A.DC. Quercus macrolepis Kotschy Quercus massana Ehrenb. ex Wenz. Quercus pyrami Kotschy Quercus ungeri Kotschy Quercus vallonea Kotschy Quercus vallonea A.DC. Quercus ventricosa Koehne

It is found in Southeastern Europe, from southeastern Italy,[3] southern Albania and Greece,[4] and in southwestern Asia from Turkey south through Lebanon, Israel, Syria,[5] and neighboring Jordan,[6] whose national tree it is. Together with Quercus macrolepsis and Quercus brantii, it forms a clade of distinct, closely related species within the oak section Cerris.[7]

Quercus ithaburensis is a small to medium-sized semi-evergreen to tardily deciduous tree growing to a maximum height of around 15 metres (49 feet) with a rounded crown and often with a gnarled trunk and branches. The leaves are 4–9 centimetres (1+1⁄2–3+1⁄2 inches) long and 2–5 cm wide, oval in shape, with 7 to 10 pairs of either teeth (most common) or shallow lobes (rare) along a revolute margin. They are dark glossy green above and gray tomentose below.[8][9]

The male flowers are light green 5-cm long catkins while the wind-pollinated female flowers are small, up to 0.4 millimetres (1⁄32 in), produced in threes on short stalks called peduncles. Flowering occurs from March through April in most of its native range. The acorns are generally oval, up to 5 cm long and 3 cm wide with a cap covering roughly one-third of the acorn, maturing in 18 months, dropping from the tree in the second autumn after pollination. The cap is covered in long stiff loose scales which are rolled backwards or involute, especially along the edges of the cap.[8][9][10]

Before the 20^th century, the Plain of Sharon was covered byn open woodland dominated by Quercus ithaburensis, which extended from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra’ananna in the south. The local Arab inhabitants traditionally used the area for pasture, firewood and intermittent cultivation. The intensification of settlement and agriculture in the coastal plain during the 19^th century led to deforestation and subsequent environmental degradation known from Hebrew sources.[11]