Quercus coccinea |
Quercus montana |
|
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scarlet oak |
chestnut oak, mountain chestnut oak, rock chestnut oak |
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Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m; lower trunk without stubs of dead branches. | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m. Bark dark gray or brown, hard, with deep V-shaped furrows. |
Bark | dark gray to dark brown, irregularly fissured with scaly ridges, inner bark orangish pink. |
|
Twigs | reddish brown, (1-)2-3.5 mm diam., glabrous. |
light brown, 2-3(-4) mm diam., glabrous. |
Buds | light brown, ovoid, (3-)4-6 mm, occasionally apex acute, glabrous. |
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Leaves | blade elliptic to ovate or obovate, 70-160 × 80-130 mm, base obtuse to truncate, margins with 5-9 deep lobes and 18-50 awns, lobes distally expanded, sinuses usually extending more than 1/2 distance to midrib, apex acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for minute axillary tufts of tomentum, adaxially glossy light green, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. |
blade obovate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, (100-)120-200(-220) × 60-100(-120) mm, base subacute or rounded-acuminate, often unequal, margins regularly toothed, teeth rounded or rarely somewhat acute, secondary veins ± parallel, straight or moderately curved, 10-14(-16) on each side, apex broadly acuminate; surfaces abaxially light green, appearing glabrous but with scattered minute, asymmetric, appressed-stellate hairs and usually visible, larger, simple or fascicled erect hairs along veins, adaxially dark green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, simple hairs. |
Acorns | biennial; cup turbinate to hemispheric, 7-13 mm high × 16.5-31.5 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface light to dark reddish brown, glossy, glabrous to puberulent, inner surface light brown, glabrous, occasionally with ring of pubescence around scar, scales often tuberculate, base broad, glossy, margins strongly concave with tips tightly appressed, acute to attenuate; nut oblong to subglobose, 12-22 × 10-21 mm, glabrous, with 1 or more rings of fine pits at apex, scar diam. 6.5-13.5 mm. |
1-3, subsessile or on peduncle 8-20(-25) mm; cup shallowly cup-shaped to hemispheric or deeply goblet-shaped, rim thin, often flared and undulate, helmetlike, 9-15 mm deep × 18-25 mm wide, scales often in concentric or transverse rows, laterally connate, gray, broadly ovate, tips reddish, glabrous; nut light brown, ovoid-ellipsoid, 15-30 × 10-20(-25) mm, glabrous. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
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Terminal | buds dark reddish brown, conic to ovoid, 4-7 mm, noticeably 5-angled in cross section, usually silvery- or tawny-pubescent distal to middle. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Quercus coccinea |
Quercus montana |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering mid-late spring. |
Habitat | Poor soils, well-drained uplands, dry slopes, and ridges, occasionally on poorly drained sites | Rocky upland forest, dry ridges, mixed deciduous forests on shallow soils |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 0-1400 m (0-4600 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV
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AL; CT; DE; GA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WV
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Discussion | Trees having acorns with broad, distinctly warty cups are sometimes classified as Quercus coccinea var. tuberculata Sargent. Quercus coccinea reportedly hybridizes with Q. imbricaria, Q. ilicifolia (= Q. ×robbinsii Trelease), Q. laevis, and Q. palustris (E. J. Palmer 1948) and with Q. phellos, Q. rubra, and Q. velutina (= Q. ×fontana Laughlin). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The name Quercus prinus Linnaeus is often applied to this species, particularly in the forestry literature, and in many regional floras. In a number of works, however, Q. prinus has been applied to the species here treated as Q. michauxii. Following the recommendations of J. W. Hardin (1979), because of the persistent confusion in the application of the name Q. prinus and uncertainty regarding the identity of the Linnean type materials, the names Q. montana and Q. michauxii should be used for the two species that have been variously called Q. prinus. Quercus prinus under this interpretation is a name of uncertain position. The four species of the chestnut oak group in eastern North America (Quercus montana, Q. michauxii, Q. muhlenbergii, and Q. prinoides) are somewhat difficult to distinguish unless careful attention is paid to features of leaf vestiture and fruit and cup morphology. Attempts to identify these species mostly or solely on basis of leaf shape and dentition (as in many other oak species complexes) have resulted in a plethora of misidentified material in herbaria and erroneous reports in the literature. The closely appressed, asymmetric trichomes on the abaxial surface of the mature leaf, in combination with longer simple hairs along the midvein, are unique to Q. montana among North American species of Quercus. Immature leaves and densely shaded leaves sometimes exhibit a more erect trichome that could be confused with the longer, felty hairs of Q. michauxii, so it is important to evaluate mature sun leaves when possible. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. coccinea var. tuberculata | |
Name authority | Münchhausen: Hausvater 5(1): 254. (1770) | Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 4(1): 440. (1805) |
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