Leaves are alternate, simple, with variable shape (oblong, ovate, or elliptical), and with wavy or shallowly lobed margins. Length is 2 to 8 cm and width 2 to 4 cm.  Twigs: Twigs are brown or grayish, 1-2.5 mm diameter, glabrous or densely covered with short grayish or yellowish hairs, that are lost with age. Buds are dark red-brown, somewhat spherical, about 2 mm long, and sparsely pubescent. Bark: Bark on the larger stems is light gray and scaly. Shinnery oak populations in Utah and Arizona are considered a variety of shinnery oak ("Quercus havardii" var. "tuckeri") by some taxonomists. However, introgression of shinnery oak with Gambel oak ("Quercus gambelii") and perhaps shrub live oak ("Quercus turbinella") make taxonomic identification of these populations difficult. Shinnery oak hybridizes with Mohr oak ("Quercus mohriana") and post oak ("Quercus stellata"). Post oak × shinnery oak hybrids are likely to be a result of post oak's historic range, which extended more westerly than it does today. Mohr oak × shinnery oak hybrids are restricted to habitats intermediate to those occupied by the two species. Mohr oak inhabits limestone soils, and shinnery oak occurs on deep sand soils. Shinnery oak is native to western Oklahoma, west Texas, eastern New Mexico, and 2 isolated populations in southwest Kansas. A variety also occurs in northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah. Sandy plains, sand dunes, and sand hills of the southern Great Plains are typical habitat. A majority of shinnery oak occurs on private land used for agriculture and/or livestock production. It is considered undesirable on grazing lands, because it competes with better livestock forage and its buds and leaves are toxic to cattle for several weeks in spring. In addition, where cotton is grown near shinnery oak, boll weevils overwinter in the oak litter and infest nearby cotton fields in spring. Thus, most research and other human effort concerning shinnery oak have been devoted to its eradication. The use of chemical and mechanical control methods has been extensive, making it likely that shinnery oak's distribution is decreasing. Most authorities do not recommend complete eradication of shinnery oak, indicating that forage production is typically greater if some shinnery oak remains in the community.