Quercus humboldtii, commonly known as the Andean oak, Colombian oak or roble, is a species of oak found only in Colombia and Panamá. It is named for Alexander von Humboldt.
Quercus humboldtii is an evergreen tree which grows to a height of 25m (82feet) and a diameter of 1m (03feet), with buttresses of up to 1 m. Its bark is reddish gray or gray and fissured, breaking into squares and flaking. The leaves are simple, alternate and lanceolate, up to NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long, and clustered at the ends of the branches. The flowers are small, yellow, and unisexual, with a racemic inflorescence. Male flowers are numerous, with long-styled female flowers in a cupula. The fruit is a light brown, ovoid capsule, or acorn, with a leathery pericarp, NaNmm in diameter and NaNmm long, resting on a scaly cupule. Only one fruit per cupule is developed, and the inside of the acorn shell is woolly.[1] [2] [3]
It grows in the mountains with an elevational range from NaNm (-2,147,483,648feet). It is found on all three Colombian Andean mountain ranges and some lowland inter-Andean regions,[4] [5] [6] and in the Serranía del Darién on the border between Panama and Colombia.
The tree grows in the Andean highlands where the mean annual temperature is 16−24 °C, and the mean annual rainfall NaNmm. It can be found in moderately fertile and deep soils as well as in degraded soils, preferring shallow soils with a thick layer of humus. The acorns provide important food for wildlife; two parrots – the rusty-faced parrot and Fuertes's parrot – are endemic to the threatened montane ecosystems of the Colombian Andes and are particularly dependent on the Andean oak forests as a home.