THE LOW OAK IN
PINE-OAK-SWEETGUM
 As one ascends
or descends mountain slopes, vegetation zones continually change. Researchers have named
the particular forest type I'm living in as Pine-Oak-Sweetgum because those are the
dominant tree species. I've added a description of the forest type, including a list of
other woody species also found in it, here.
At my elevation at the forest zone's lowest limit, about 1740 meters, the main oak is
the broad-leafed, sharp-toothed one shown at the right.
I think that that's QUERCUS CANDICANS, "candicans" meaning "white,"
referring to the leaves' undersurfaces which are covered with a dense, wooly,
fuzzy-feeling surface of tiny, branched, matted hairs, very much like the north's
Black-oak leaves.
This is a humid forest so tree trunks and limbs are often very heavily mantled with
bromeliads, ferns, orchids and other epiphytic species. Note that these are not parasitic.
They do not rob host trees of nutrients. They only grow upon the limbs. You can see a nice
bunch of bromeliads inside a Quercus candicans right above my outdoor toilet on a
rainy, foggy day below:
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