Quercus nigra |
Quercus similis |
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chêne gris, water oak |
bottomland post oak, delta post oak, swamp post oak |
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Habit | Trees, deciduous or tardily deciduous, to 30 m. Bark grayish black, fissures irregular, shallow, inner bark pinkish. | Trees, deciduous, to 25 m, with single straight trunk. |
Bark | brown, scaly. |
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Twigs | dark red-brown, 1.5-2.5 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 distinctly obtrullate, rarely elliptic or merely obovate, widest near apex, 30-120(-160) × 15-60(-70) mm, base attenuate or cuneate, rarely rounded, margins entire with 1 apical awn or with 2-3 shallow lobes and 2-5 awns (leaves on juvenile or 2d-flush growth may be deeply lobed with more awns), apex obtuse to blunt or rounded; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for minute or conspicuous axillary tufts of tomentum, veins rarely raised, adaxially glabrous with secondary veins somewhat impressed. |
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 saucer-shaped, 2.5-5.5 mm high × 10-18 mm wide, covering 1/4 nut or less, outer surface puberulent, inner surface sparsely to uniformly pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut broadly ovoid, 9.5-14 × 9.5-14.5 mm, often faintly striate, glabrate, scar diam. 6-11.5 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 reddish brown, ovoid, 3-6.5 mm, puberulent throughout, occasionally densely pubescent on apical 2/3. |
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Quercus nigra |
Quercus similis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Mesic alluvial and lowland sites, also barrens, dunes, hammocks, and low ridges to steep slopes | Forests in wet stream bottoms, flatwoods, river valleys |
Elevation | 0-450 m (0-1500 ft) | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
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AL; AR; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX
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Discussion | Typically on mesic alluvial and lowland sites, Quercus nigra also occurs on a wide variety of soil types and in a diversity of habitats. Trees with 3-lobed leaves with attenuate bases have been recognized as Quercus nigra var. tridentifera Sargent. Quercus nigra reportedly hybridizes with Q. falcata (= Q. ×garlandensis E. J. Palmer), Q. incana, Q. laevis (= Q. ×walteriana Ashe), Q. marilandica (= Q. ×sterilis Trelease), Q. phellos (= Q. ×capesii W. Wolf), Q. shumardii (= Q. ×neopalmeri Sudworth), and Q. velutina (Q. ×demarei Ashe). In addition, D. M. Hunt (1989) cited evidence of hybridization also with Q. arkansana, Q. georgiana, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. laurifolia, Q. myrtifolia, Q. palustris, Q. rubra, and Q. texana. (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. nana, Q. nigra var. tridentifera, Q. uliginosa | Q. ashei, Q. stellata var. paludosa |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 995. (1753) | Ashe: J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 40: 43. (1924) |
Web links |