Quercus coccinea |
Quercus similis |
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scarlet oak |
bottomland post oak, delta post oak, swamp post oak |
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Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m; lower trunk without stubs of dead branches. | Trees, deciduous, to 25 m, with single straight trunk. |
Bark | dark gray to dark brown, irregularly fissured with scaly ridges, inner bark orangish pink. |
brown, scaly. |
Twigs | reddish brown, (1-)2-3.5 mm diam., glabrous. |
grayish, 2-3 mm diam., persistently tomentulose. |
Buds | brown, ovoid, 2-3 mm, apex acute or rounded, proximally pubescent. |
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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 or narrowly obovate, (50-)75-120(-150) × 50-65(-80) mm, base rounded-attenuate or acute, margins flat, shallowly 2-3-lobed on each side, lobes usually simple, oblong or rounded, rarely spatulate, not cruciform, secondary veins 3-5 on each side, apex broadly ovate or acute; surfaces abaxially grayish, sparsely glandular and sparsely appressed-stellate, adaxially dark green, glossy, sparsely stellate. |
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; cup 6-7 mm deep × 10-13 mm wide, scales closely appressed, grayish, finely tomentulose; nut light brown or dark reddish brown, ovoid or oblong, 12-16 × 8-12 mm, puberulent or glabrate. |
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. |
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Quercus coccinea |
Quercus similis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Poor soils, well-drained uplands, dry slopes, and ridges, occasionally on poorly drained sites | Forests in wet stream bottoms, flatwoods, river valleys |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 0-300 m (0-1000 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; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. coccinea var. tuberculata | Q. ashei, Q. stellata var. paludosa |
Name authority | Münchhausen: Hausvater 5(1): 254. (1770) | Ashe: J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 40: 43. (1924) |
Web links |