Palmer Oak ( Latin Quercus palmeri ) is a species of shrubs from the genus Oaks of the Beech family.
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Quercus palmeri Engelm. (1878) |
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The species is named in honor of Edward Palmer ( English Edward Palmer ) (1829-1911) - English botanist, researcher of the flora of the United States.
Not all botanists recognize the independence of this species; according to the database of the Integrated Taxonomic Information Service ( ITIS ) the name Quercus palmeri Engelm. (1878) is included in the synonymy of the species Quercus dunnii Kellogg (1879) [2] .
Content
Range of view: southwest USA , north of Mexico .
Pistils are short, acorns ripen every 18 months, very bitter, the membrane of acorns inside is hairy.
Scientists in the valley of Dzhurupa ( English Jurupa ) ( California , USA ) discovered a colony of 70 plants, formed as a result of cloning . The colony is a shrubbery about a meter high and grows on a site measuring 22.9 meters in length and 7.3 meters in width [3] . It was named after the valley - Jurupa Oak .
Studies were carried out on the variability of the enzymes of individuals in the colony and the characteristics of shoot morphology, the traces of overgrowing of shoots after damage by fires, and the causes of oak infertility were studied. Researchers took into account that this colony grows far from the range of modern specimens of this species and came to the conclusion that all individuals are clones of a common ancestor, that is, vegetative offspring [4] .
Given the growth rate of this type of oak and a number of other indicators, scientists have established the age of the oak, which was at least 13 thousand years [4] .
Co-author of the study, Andrew Sanders, claims that this is the only surviving representative of the extinct forest flora that grew in the area in the midst of the last ice age.
