Quercus crassipes It is a tree of the Fagaceae family, endemic to Mexico. It is commonly known as white oak, capulincillo oak, chilillo oak, red oak, laurel oak, pepitillo oak, pipitza oak, black oak, saucillo oak, tesmolillo oak, urikua oak and oak..
It grows in many soils of Mexico, being a very common tree in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and in the Sierra Madre del Sur, as well as somewhat less present in the Michoacan Altiplano and in the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression.
Its climatic range of distribution covers from 2200 to 2900 meters above sea level, in an environment with temperatures that are between 12 and 17 ° C and that has annual rainfall of between 800 and 1400 mm.
The tesmolillo oak is associated with vegetation such as the forest of Abies, Forest of Pinus, Forest of Pinus-Quercus, Forest of Quercus-Pinus, Forest of Quercus, and mountain mesophilic forest.
The use of its wood, like that of most oaks, is for firewood and charcoal. This is used for the production of sawn wood, for construction or for the extraction of cellulose with different destinations.
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The tesmolillo oak is a tree that measures between 10 and 35 meters in height and has a trunk with a diameter that ranges from 15 to 100 cm. The bark of this tree is dark brown in color and has elongated plates.
Consequently, the leaves of this oak are elliptical-lanceolate, measuring 2.5 to 14 cm in length and between 6 mm and 4 cm in width. The margin of the leaves is curved towards the bottom (revoluto).
The upper part is greyish-green, or glossy dark green, while the underside is yellowish-greyish and is covered with a persistent tomentum. Additionally, it presents fasciculate, simple sessile and multiradiate non-glandular trichomes.
The fruit of the tesmolillo oak is produced biannually. It is solitary, or sometimes in pairs, and corresponds to an ovoid acorn (hazelnut type) that measures between 10-21 mm long and 12-14 mm wide. In turn, these acorns produced between October and January are used for their propagation.
-Kingdom: Plantae
-Class: Equisetopsida
-Subclass: Magnoliidae
-Superorder: Rosanae
-Order: Fagales
-Family: Fagaceae
-Gender: Quercus L.
-Species: Quercus crassipes Bonpland 1809.
In general, gender Quercus it is distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. Especially in Mexico, where it lives among groups of plants characteristic of humid and sub-humid temperate zones of the mountain ranges and highlands of the altiplano..
Quercus crassipes It is one of the 81 species that make up the section Lobatae Loudon (red oaks). It is distributed throughout a large part of the Mexican territory in places such as: Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Colima, Coahuila, Federal District, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Nuevo León, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, Querétaro, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Zacatecas, among others.
For this species of red oak, the distribution pattern of the genus was determined, specifically in Michoacán (Mexico). It is normally located at an elevation that ranges from 2,200 to 2,900 meters above sea level, with temperatures between 12 and 17 ° C, in areas with annual rainfall between 800 and 1400 mm. Grows in acrisols, andosols, feozem, lithosols, luvisols and vertisols soils.
On the other hand, the vegetation to which it is associated Q. crassipes is the forest of Abies, Forest of Pinus, Forest of Pinus-Quercus, Forest of Quercus-Pinus, Forest of Quercus and mountain mesophilic forest.
From the point of view of its conservation, the tesmolillo oak is a species that is threatened, due to the transformation of its habitat and product of logging and crops.
Acorn shells Quercus crassipes have shown the bioaccumulation of chromium from aqueous solutions, proposing the tesmolillo oak as a potential low-cost bioabsorbent for the removal of Cr (VI) and total chromium from aqueous solutions containing various impurities.
In this sense, it has been investigated that tesmolillo oak can biacumulate chromium depending on the pH of the solution.
Second, after that of the pines, the wood of the species of Quercus it is the most abundant in Mexico. The use of oak wood is about 578,687 m3 per year and represents 9% of the exploited timber material.
The species Q. crassipes It is used as wood for firewood, fencing, violin bows, spinning tops, charcoal, as platforms and for the production of paper. However, there are no programs established to massively use it..
Other uses for tesmolillo oak wood are the construction of posts, piles and andirons, veneer and plywood. In particular, oak wood is used for the production of:
The cellulose that is extracted from this tree is used for the production of kraft paper, for material in strong sacks for the transport of lime (cement and plaster), as well as for transporting pet food and human food (flour for example). Cellulose has other destinations such as the manufacture of light wrappers such as bags or newspaper..
In this case, the sawn wood is used to obtain boards and planks of different sizes, beams, sleepers and gualdras. They are normally used for construction or for transformation into carved pieces, furniture, musical instruments, utensils, as well as moldings, ropes and handles or bases..
The oak wood serves as fuel from the direct use of its trunk as firewood or from the conversion into charcoal. The latter, being a product with low added value, does not represent the justification for the widespread logging that has destroyed many oak plantations..
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