Quercus coccinea |
Quercus texana |
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scarlet oak |
Nuttall's oak, Texas red oak |
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Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m; lower trunk without stubs of dead branches. | Trees, deciduous, to 25 m. Bark dark brown with flat ridges divided by shallow fissures. |
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. |
red-brown to gray, 1.5-3(-3.5) 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 ovate to elliptic or obovate, 75-200 × 55-130 mm, base cuneate to almost truncate, often inequilateral, margins with 6-11 lobes and 9-24 awns, lobes oblong to distally expanded, rarely falcate, apex acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for conspicuous axillary tufts of tomentum, veins raised, adaxially planar, 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 thin (scale bases visible on inner surface), deeply goblet-shaped with pronounced constriction at base, 10-16 mm high × 15-22 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent, inner surface sparsely to uniformly pubescent, scale tips appressed, acute; nut broadly ovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 15-26 × 13-18 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, scar diam. 8-13 mm, scar often orangish. |
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 gray to gray-brown, ovoid, 3-7 mm, glabrous or with scales somewhat ciliate at apex. |
2n | = 24. |
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Quercus coccinea |
Quercus texana |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Poor soils, well-drained uplands, dry slopes, and ridges, occasionally on poorly drained sites | Flood plains and bottomlands |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 0-200 m (0-700 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; IL; KY; LA; MO; MS; TN; 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.) |
For many years the name Quercus texana was erroneously used for Q. buckleyi (L. J. Dorr and K. C. Nixon 1985). A few authors have also used the name for Q. gravesii. Quercus nuttallii E. J. Palmer var. cachensis E. J. Palmer was described as a small-fruited form (nuts 16-18 × 12-16 mm) from specimens collected in east-central Arkansas (E. J. Palmer 1937). Noting the similarity between Q. nuttallii var. cachensis and Q. palustris, Palmer discounted the possibility of the former being of hybrid origin because (1) he had not observed Q. palustris in the type locality, and (2) the leaves and buds of the former were essentially the same as in Q. nuttallii var. nuttallii. C. H. Muller (1942), on the other hand, argued that Quercus nuttallii was nothing more than a form [forma nuttallii (E. J. Palmer) C. H. Muller] of Q. palustris. This is a puzzling conclusion because it was based largely on the premise that Q. nuttallii occurred "...with the parent species throughout a large part of the latter's southern range (Mississippi to eastern Texas and southeastern Missouri)." The range of Q. palustris does not extend into Mississippi or eastern Texas, although its range does overlap that of Q. texana in eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri. E. J. Palmer (1948) and D. M. Hunt (1989) have suggested hybridization with Q. shumardii and Q. nigra, respectively. See L. J. Dorr and K. C. Nixon (1985) for an explanation of the nomenclatural confusion regarding this taxon. (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 | Q. nuttallii, Q. rubra var. texana, Q. shumardii var. texana |
Name authority | Münchhausen: Hausvater 5(1): 254. (1770) | Buckley: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12: 444. (1860) |
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