Quercus coccinea |
Quercus phellos |
|
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scarlet oak |
willow oak |
|
Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m; lower trunk without stubs of dead branches. | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m. Bark dark gray and smooth, becoming darker and irregularly fissured with age, inner bark light orange. |
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. |
reddish brown, 1-2 mm diam., glabrous. |
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 linear to narrowly elliptic, usually widest near middle, 50-120 × 10-25 mm, base acute, margins entire with 1 apical awn, apex acute; surfaces abaxially pale green, glabrous, rarely softly pubescent, adaxially light green, glabrous. |
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. |
biennial; cup shallowly saucer-shaped, 3-6.5 mm high × 7.5-11 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface light brown, pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut ovoid to hemispheric, 8-12 × 6.5-10 mm, often striate, glabrate, scar diam. 4.5-6 mm. |
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. |
buds chestnut brown, ovoid, 2-4 mm, apex acute, glabrous. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Quercus coccinea |
Quercus phellos |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Poor soils, well-drained uplands, dry slopes, and ridges, occasionally on poorly drained sites | Of bottomland flood plains, also on stream banks, dunes, and terraces, and, occasionally, on poorly drained uplands |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 0-400 m (0-1300 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; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA
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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.) |
Individual trees with leaves softly pubescent abaxially may be classified as Quercus phellos forma intonsa Fernald; however, such leaves are known to occur on second-flush shoots from twigs bearing typical leaves. Quercus phellos reportedly hybridizes with Q. coccinea (W. W. Ashe 1894); with Q. ilicifolia (= Q. ×giffordi Trelease) and Q. incana (E. J. Palmer 1948); and with Q. marilandica, Q. nigra, Q. pagoda (= Q. ×ludoviciana Sargent), Q. palustris, Q. rubra, Q. shumardii, and Q. velutina. D. M. Hunt (1989) cited evidence of hybridization also with Q. hemisphaerica, Q. imbricaria, Q. laurifolia, and Q. pumila. (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. Lobatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. coccinea var. tuberculata | |
Name authority | Münchhausen: Hausvater 5(1): 254. (1770) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 994. (1753) |
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