Quercus crenata – the correct if long-forgotten name of the hybrid Quercus cerris × Quercus suber

Abstract

ABSTRACT Quercus cerris L. and Q. suber L. are sympatric for a small portion of their distribution area, where they occasionally hybridize. The hybrid's fitness is low in the wild and there is no significant record of backcrossing; due to occasional reproduction and to the long life span, however, rare individuals of hybrid origin occur scattered in southeastern Europe, even outside of the current range of one or other of the parent species, and can be assigned to the corresponding nothospecies. Several names have been published for this taxon, and others have been variously misapplied to it for more than two centuries, resulting in a true nomenclatural jumble. A thorough examination of the types and protologues of all relevant names leads to the conclusion that Q. × crenata Lam., a name often overlooked, is the correct name for this nothospecies; Q. × hispanica Lam., the name adopted by most authors, is a name of unresolved application, which definitely refers to a different hybrid; all other competing names are junior heterotypic synonyms.