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 geminata

Quercus falcata

sand live oak

chêne rouge, southern red oak, Spanish oak
Habit Trees, sometimes shrubs, subevergreen, trees to 25 m, shrubs sometimes rhizomatous (if spreading rhizomatously, without numerous straight, short, erect stems emerging from gound, or if so, mixed with other larger branches, infertile, and without dimorphic or asymmetric leaf form). Trees, deciduous, to 30 m. Bark dark brown to black, narrowly fissured with scaly ridges, inner bark orange.
Bark

dark brown or black, scaly.

Twigs

yellowish, becoming light gray, 1.5-3 mm diam., tomentulose, glabrate in 2d year.

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

reddish or dark brown, globose or ovoid, 1-2.5(-3) mm;

scale margins glabrous or puberulent.

Leaves

blade narrowly lanceolate or elliptic, rarely orbiculate, convex-cupped, (10-)35-60(-120) × (7-)10-30(-45) mm, base narrowly cuneate, rarely truncate or rounded, margins strongly revolute, entire, secondary veins 8-10(-12) on each side, apex acute, sometimes obtuse;

surfaces abaxially whitish or glaucous, densely covered with minute, appressed, fused-stellate hairs (visible under magnification), and with additional scattered, erect, felty or spreading hairs (sometimes deciduous), or light green and glabrate in shade leaves, adaxially dark or light green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, stellate hairs, secondary veins moderately to deeply impressed.

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.
Acorns

1-3, on peduncle 10-100 mm;

cup hemispheric or deeply goblet-shaped, sometimes saucer-shaped, 8-15 mm deep × 5-15 mm wide, base often constricted, scales whitish or grayish, thickened basally, keeled, acute-attenuate, tomentulose, tips reddish, glabrous or puberulent;

nut dark brown, ovoid, barrel-shaped, or acute, (13-)15-20(-25) × (8-)9-12(-15) mm, glabrous.

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.
Cotyledons

connate.

Terminal

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

Quercus geminata

Quercus falcata
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Coastal plain, open evergreen woodlands and scrublands on deep sandy soils, often with pines Dry or sandy upland sites
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 0-800 m (0-2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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]
Discussion

Quercus geminata occurs in Cuba as putative hybrids.

Although some recent authors prefer to treat Quercus geminata as a variety of Q. virginiana, the two species are easily separable and rarely intergrade through most of the broad range in which they are sympatric. Apparently this is primarily because of habitat separation, but additionally Q. geminata flowers much later than Q. virginiana in any given geographic area. At the northern extreme of the range of Q. geminata, apparent intermediates with Q. virginiana are more common, possibly because flowering times of the two species overlap to a greater extent because of slower warming in the spring. Scattered intermediates also occur where the two species are sympatric on sands in coastal Mississippi.

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

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.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae
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. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, 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. 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
Synonyms Q. virginiana var. geminata Q. digitata, Q. falcata var. triloba
Name authority Small: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 438. (1897) Michaux: Hist. Chênes Amér., no. 16, plate 28. (1801)
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