Japanese name: ミヤマナラ（深山楢） Scientific name:Quercus crispula var. horikawae
[Overview]
A deciduous tree found on avalanche slopes in the mountains and in the subalpine zone.
It is the alpine form of Mizunara, and the trunk often creeps like a shrub.
The bark splits irregularly lengthwise.
Leaves are simple and alternate, oblong to obovate, 6–9 cm long.
The upper surface of the leaf at first has soft hairs, but later becomes hairless.
The underside has silky hairs and fine hairs and is pale green.
The leaf margin has rather many sharp teeth.
The leaf stalk is very short or almost absent.
There are male flowers and female flowers.
The male flowers form catkins, sparsely covered with soft hairs, and hang several at a time from the lower part of the new shoots.
The female flowers are borne in the leaf axils in the upper part of the new shoots.
The fruit is an elliptic nut (acorn) that ripens in autumn of the same year; the cupule (acorn cap) is cup-shaped, and the involucral scales are arranged like overlapping roof tiles.
