Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Quercus falcata

Quercus laceyi

chêne rouge, southern red oak, Spanish oak

lacey oak
Habit Trees, deciduous, to 30 m. Bark dark brown to black, narrowly fissured with scaly ridges, inner bark orange. Trees, deciduous, to 5-8(-10) m. Bark light colored, papery or scaly.
Twigs

reddish brown, (1-)1.5-3.5(-4.5) mm diam., pubescent.

gray, 1.5-2 mm diam., pubescent with erect stellate hairs, these soon shed, at maturity reddish and pruinose to tan and glabrous.
Buds

brown, ovoid to ovoid-lanceoloid, 1.5-3 × 1-2 mm, apex acute, glabrous.
Leaves

blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 100-300 × 60-160 mm, base rounded or U-shaped, margins with 3-7 deep lobes and 6-20 awns, terminal lobe often long-acuminate, much longer than lateral lobes, apex acute;

surfaces abaxially sparsely to uniformly tawny-pubescent, adaxially glossy and glabrous or puberulent along midrib, secondary veins raised on both surfaces.

blade blue-green, glaucous, obovate or elliptic, (20-)40-90(-210) × (20-)30-60(-110) mm, thin, base cuneate and decurrent on petiole to rounded or rarely somewhat cordate, margins thin, flat, entire to shallowly lobed or (rarely in shade forms) deeply lobed, lobes if present oblong, squarish, often retuse, secondary veins 6-9 on each side, each terminating in tooth or arching near margins, apex broadly rounded, retuse;

surfaces abaxially whitish, with erect stellate hairs, hairs shed as leaves expand, becoming glabrous, glaucous, adaxially glabrous, glaucous.
Acorns

biennial;

cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 3-7 mm high × 9-18 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute;

nut subglobose, 9-16 × 8-15 mm, often striate, puberulent, scar diam. 5-10 mm.

annual, solitary or paired, subsessile or on short peduncle to 10(-20) mm in leaf axil;

cup saucer-shaped or shallowly cup-shaped, 4-7 mm deep × 10-12(-18) mm wide, enclosing 1/3 nut or less, scales moderately tuberculate, finely tomentose;

nut oblong or barrel-shaped, often flattened at both ends, (11-)13-15(-20) × 9-11(-14) mm.
Cotyledons

distinct.
Terminal

buds light reddish brown, ovoid, 4-8 mm, puberulent throughout.

Quercus falcata

Quercus laceyi
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering in spring.
Habitat Dry or sandy upland sites Limestone hills, woodlands and riparian forests, canyons and streamsides
Elevation 0-800 m (0-2600 ft) 350-2200 m (1100-7200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Coahuila and Nuevo León)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Native Americans used Quercus falcata in various ways to treat indigestion, chronic dysentery, sores, chapped skin, chills and fevers, lost voice, asthma, milky urine, and as an antiseptic, a tonic, and an emetic (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Quercus falcata reportedly hybridizes with Q. ilicifolia (= Q. ×caesariensis Moldenke), Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia (= Q. ×beaumontiana Sargent), and Q. marilandica (E. J. Palmer 1948); with Q. nigra, and Q. pagoda (S. A. Ware 1967; R. J. Jensen 1989); and with Q. phellos, Q. shumardii, Q. hemisphaerica, and Q. velutina.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Material from Texas and northeastern Mexico, excluding the type, has been incorrectly referred to Quercus glaucoides M. Martens & Galeotti by some authors (K. C. Nixon and C. H. Muller 1992).

On the Edwards Plateau of Texas, Quercus laceyi occurs mostly at 350-600 m elevation; in Coahuila and Nuevo León, it occurs at 1500-2200 m. This species is sometimes associated with remnant mesic forests, which include Acer grandidentatum Nuttall, Tilia species, Quercus muhlenbergii Engelmann, and various pine and other oak species. The leaves are shallowly lobed or entire, although occasional specimens on moist sites are deeply lobed and resemble the leaves of Q. alba in outline.

(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
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. digitata, Q. falcata var. triloba Q. breviloba subsp. laceyi
Name authority Michaux: Hist. Chênes Amér., no. 16, plate 28. (1801) Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 358. (1901)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers