In Texas, animal or plant species of conservation concern may be listed as threatened or endangered under the authority of state law and/or under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Species may be listed as state threatened or endangered and not federally listed. The state list deals only with the status of the species within Texas. A federal listing means that an animal is in decline throughout its entire range which may encompass several other states or nations. This series includes wildlife which may be close to extinction and is comprised of birds, fish, invertebrates, mammals, plants, amphibians and reptiles.
Hinckley’s Oak (Quercus hinckleyi)
Other Names: Chaparro
Texas Status: Threatened
U.S. Status: Threatened, Listed 08/26/1988
Description: Hinckley's oak is a dwarf, evergreen, multi-branched shrub which forms thickets about 4 feet tall. It has small waxy, gray-green leaves less than half an inch long. The leaves are round or oval with wavy margins and coarse spiny teeth. Evidence from fossil pack rat middens indicates that Hinckley's oak was more common 10,000 years ago when the climate of west Texas was wetter.
Life History: This unique shrub produces small acorns in the fall. The acorns are solitary or paired, oval, brown, and about a half-inch wide. Reasons for the decline of this species include limited distribution, climate change, and low reproduction.
Habitat: It grows on dry, rocky limestone slopes in desert scrub communities of west Texas.
Distribution: Hinckley's oak is distributed in the Trans-Pecos region of west Texas, Brewster and Presidio Counties. Most of the known populations occur in Texas Parks and Wildlife's Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Because this series is quite a distance from my house, maintenance is rather difficult. Log's get wet, containers break, and sometimes caches just flat go missing. If you dont find the cache, and believe it to be gone, or it needs maintenance, please feel free to make it whole again. As a thank you, you may add a second log to any that you do maintenance on. And thanks for the help.