The trunk is up to 60 centimetres (2 ft) in diameter with light gray bark which is fissured and cracked into small plates.

The male catkins are yellowish-green and the female flowers are in small spikes growing in the leaf axils and appear in spring at the same time as the new leaves.

[4][5][3] The gray oak grows in the mountains of the southwestern United States (western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and the Oklahoma Panhandle) and northern Mexico (Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Hidalgo).

[4][6][7] The gray oak occurs from 1,200 to 2,700 m (4,000 to 9,000 ft) above sea level, growing in valleys and on ridges, on rocky slopes and on the banks of streams.

It grows in association with other oaks, species of juniper, Mexican pinyon (Pinus cembroides), pinyon pine (Pinus edulis), fendlerbush (Fendlera rupicola), bushy sage (Salvia lycioides), Texas madrone (Arbutus xalapensis ), Fremont barberry (Berberis fremontii), Louisiana sagewort (Artemisia ludoviciana) and soaptree yucca (Yucca elata).