Trelease in 1924[5] simultaneously published three names for what nearly all present-day botanists consider to be one species. Some publications have referred to this taxon as Quercus prainiana[4] but this name turns out to have been used earlier, in 1913,[6] applied to an Asian species now called Quercus helferiana. Hence this name is not available for the Mexican trees. Instead, more recent authors been using one of Trelease's other names, Quercus coffeicolor.[3]
Quercus coffeicolor is a tree up to 12 metres (39 feet) tall, with a trunk up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) in diameter. The leaves are elliptical, up to 12 cm long, wavy edges but no teeth or lobes.[4]
