Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus pumila

Quercus muehlenbergii

runner oak, running oak

Chinkapin oak, chinquapin oak, yellow chestnut oak
Habit Shrubs, deciduous or tardily deciduous, to 1 m. Bark gray to dark brown. Trees, deciduous, moderate to large, to 30 m, occasionally large shrubs (ca. 3 m) on drier sites.
Bark

gray, thin, flaky to papery.
Twigs

gray-brown to reddish brown, 1-2 mm diam., sparsely to uniformly pubescent.

brownish, 1.5-3(-4) mm diam., sparsely fine-pubescent, soon becoming glabrate, graying in 2d year.
Buds

brown to red-brown, subrotund to broadly ovoid, 20-40 × (10-)15-25 mm, apex rounded, very sparsely pubescent.
Leaves

blade oblong to narrowly obovate, 25-100 × 10-33 mm, base acute to rounded, margins entire, revolute, with 1 apical awn, apex acute or obtuse to rounded;

surfaces abaxially uniformly gray-brown pubescent, rarely glabrate, adaxially somewhat convex, rugose, glabrous or with scattered hairs along midrib.

blade usually obovate, sometimes lanceolate to oblanceolate, (32-)50-150(-210) × (10-)40-80(-106) mm, leathery, base truncate to cuneate, margins regularly undulate, toothed or shallow-lobed, teeth or lobes rounded, or acute-acuminate, often strongly antrorse, secondary veins usually (9-)10-14(-16) on each side, ± parallel, apex short-acute to acuminate or apiculate;

surfaces abaxially glaucous or light green, appearing glabrate but with scattered or crowded minute, appressed, symmetric, 6-10-rayed stellate hairs, adaxially lustrous dark green, glabrate.
Acorns

annual;

cup deeply saucer-shaped to turbinate, 5-12 mm high × 10-15 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2(-2/3) nut, outer surface pubescent, inner surface densely pubescent, scales rarely involute, often tuberculate, tips tightly appressed, acute;

nut globose to ovoid or broadly oblong, 9.5-15 × 9-12 mm, glabrate, scar diam. 5-8 mm.

1-2, subsessile or on axillary peduncle to 8 mm;

cup hemispheric or shallowly cupped, 4-12 mm deep × 8-22 mm wide, enclosing 1/4-1/2 nut, base rounded, margin usually thin, scales closely appressed, moderately to prominently tuberculate, uniformly short gray-pubescent;

nut light brown, oblong to ovoid, (13-)15-20(-28) × 10-13(-16) mm.
Cotyledons

distinct.
Terminal

buds brown to red-brown, ovoid, 2.5-4.5 mm, glabrous or with ciliate scale margins.

2n

= 24.

Quercus pumila

Quercus muehlenbergii
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering late winter–spring.
Habitat Dry sandy soils of savannahs, low ridges and oak-pine scrub, occasionally at margins of poorly drained sites Mixed deciduous forest, woodlands and thickets, sometimes restricted to n slopes and riparian habitats in w parts of range, limestone and calcareous soils, rarely on other substrates
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft) 0-2300 m (0-7500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, and Tamaulipas)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Although no hybrid combinations have been formally proposed, D. M. Hunt (1989) has reported evidence of hybridization with Quercus hemisphaerica, Q. incana, Q. myrtifolia, and Q. phellos.

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

Shrubby forms of Quercus muhlenbergii are difficult to distinguish from Quercus prinoides, but Q. muhlenbergii does not spread clonally or produce acorns on small shrubs as does Q. prinoides. The edaphic preferences of these two species are distinctive, with Q. muhlenbergii never far from limestone substrates and Q. prinoides occurring mostly on dry shales and deep sands. Populations of Q. muhlenbergii from the southwest part of its range, on the Edwards Plateau of Texas and westward, sometimes are segregated as Q. brayi Small, but the variation appears to be clinal with inconsistent differences. Distributed from Hidalgo, Mexico to Maine, Q. muhlenbergii is one of the most widespread species of temperate North American trees.

The Delaware-Ontario prepared infusions from the bark of Quercus muhlenbergii to stop vomiting (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(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. 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. 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. 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. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, 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. acuminata, Q. brayi, Q. prinus var. acuminata
Name authority Walter: Fl. Carol., 234. (1788) Engelmann: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 3: 391. (1887)
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).



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