Download Quercus prinus

CHESTNUT OAK
Years ago, the Appalachian Mountains were covered with American Chestnut
(Castanea dentata [Marshall] Borkhausen) trees. Because of the Chestnut Blight
(Cryphonectria parasitica [Murrill] Barr), most of those trees are gone. However, there is
another tree species that bears a resemblance to the American Chestnut and is also a
member of the same family. That tree is the Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus L.).
Chestnut Oak is a member of the Order Fagales and of the Family Fagaceae. Another
commonly used scientific name for this species is Quercus montana Willdenow.
The generic name, Quercus, is Latin for “oak tree”. The specific epithet, prinus, may
have come from the Latin word primus, which is “first”, or from the Greek word prinos,
which is “evergreen tree”. However, neither origin word is applicable to this species. The
other specific epithet, montana, is Latin for “mountain”, which is where this tree is often
found.
Other common names for this tree are Basket Oak, Cow Oak, Mountain Chestnut Oak,
Rock Chestnut Oak, Rock Oak, and Tanbark Oak.
Chestnut Oaks are intermediately shade tolerant and are both salt- and droughtresistant. They are also fast-growing and long lived.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHESTNUT OAK
Height: Its height is 30-140 feet. Its height varies with its habitat.
Diameter: Its trunk diameter is 1-7 feet.
Crown: Its crown is broad, open, and irregular with large ascending limbs.
Trunk: Its trunk is short, straight, and stout.
Twigs: Its twigs are stout and smooth. They are purple-green when young but later
become orange to red-brown then dark gray. These twigs have lenticels. Its leaf scars are
alternate and clustered near the tip. Its pith’s cross-section is star-shaped.
Buds: Its buds are alternate and are clustered at the tip of the twig. Each bud is about ¼½ inches long and is ovate and acute. They are shiny orange-brown with hairy scales.
Leaves: Its leaves are simple, alternate, and deciduous. Each leaf is about 4-10 inches
long; about 1½-5 inches wide; and is obovate, oblong, or elliptical. It is widest above the
middle. Its midvein and its lateral veins are yellow. Its wavy margin has 7-16 pairs of
shallow, coarse, and rounded (crenate) teeth. These teeth have no bristled tips. Its base is
tapered, rounded, and narrow and its tip is broad, rounded, and accuminate. It is leathery,
firm, thick, is smooth yellow green above, and is pale green and slightly hairy below. Its
petiole is yellow and is about 1 inch long. It turns bronze yellow, orange, reddish, or
brown in the fall. These leaves are a favored food of cattle.
Flowers: Its male (staminate) flowers are arranged in 2-4 inch long, slender, pendulous,
clusters. Its calyx is yellow, hairy, and has 7-9 lobes. It has 7-9 stamens with yellow
anthers. Its female (pistillate) flowers are arranged upon short spikes at the leaf base.
Their stigmas are short and bright red. These flowers are wind-pollinated. Flowering
season is usually May.
Fruit: Its fruit is an acorn. These acorns are arranged in clusters of 1-3 upon a short stalk.
Each acorn is about ¾-1½ inches long, about ¾-1¼ inches thick, rounded or ovoid, light
brown, and glossy. The inner lining of the shell is smooth. About 1/3-1/2 of the acorn is
enclosed in a deep, wide, bowl-shaped cup. The cup is thin with warty, hairy, and tight
red-brown fused scales that don’t overlap. The scales are free at the tips. These acorns
mature in 1 year. Fruiting season is usually September to October.
These trees produce acorns after 20 years. They are sparse seed producers and yield
bumper crops every 2-5 years. They have a 90% germination rate.
Woodpeckers (Family Picidae), Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo L.), Ruffed
Grouse (Bonasa umbellus L.), Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata L.), Mice (Genus Mus),
Squirrels (Family Sciuridae), Raccoons (Procyon lotor L.), and White-tailed Deer
(Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) eat these seeds. They rarely stay on the ground
for very long.
Bark: Its bark is silvery gray, dark gray, dark red-brown, or black. The younger trees
have smooth bark with irregular shaped blocks and shallow furrows. The older trees have
thick, chunky, rounded, and broken flat-topped ridges and deep, V-shaped furrows. These
ridges are broken into blocks with square edges. Its inner bark is red. This bark is fireresistant.
Wood: Its wood is tough, strong, hard, heavy, durable, and close-grained. Its heartwood
is brown and its sapwood is paler and thin.
Roots: Its roots consist of a deep taproot and spreading lateral roots. These roots sprout
prolifically. About 75% of these trees are from root (or stump) sprouts.
Habitat: Its habitat consists of dry, well-drained, upland forests and upon rocky or sandy
sites with thin soils.
Range: Its range covers the Appalachian Mountains and adjacent regions from New
England to the Deep South.
Uses of the Chestnut Oak:
Chestnut Oaks had many uses. Both the Native Americans and the early European
settlers had their own uses.
The inner bark contains large amounts of tannic acid (tannin).The tannic acid from the
bark was used to tan and preserve leather. This bark was once considered to be more
valuable than the wood.
The wood was cut and marketed as White Oak (Quercus alba L.). It was used for
wagons, railroad crossties, flooring, furniture, fence posts, pallets, barrel staves, rough
construction, and fuel. It was once made into charcoal for the iron furnaces in
southeastern Ohio. The wood splits easily into fine (but tough) strips of wood fibers and
was used in basketry. These baskets often carried cotton in the southern plantations.
The acorns are very sweet-tasting. They do not need boiling to remove any tannin.
These acorns should be gathered in the fall and should be consumed immediately or
stored in a cool, dry place. They can be eaten raw or can be dried, shelled, and ground.
The ground acorns can be used as flour for making bread or can be roasted and used as a
coffee substitute. The acorns are high in fat and protein.
Threats to the Chestnut Oak:
Chestnut Oaks have their own threats. Some of their diseases include Oak Wilt
(Ceratocystis fagacearum [T.W. Bretz] J. Hunt) and Oak Leaf Blister (Taphrina
caerulescens [Desmazieres & Montagne] Tulasne). Some of their insect pests include
June Beetles (Genus Phyllophaga), Gypsy Moths (Lymantria dispar dispar L.), Two-
lined Chestnut Borers (Agrilos bilineatus [Weber]), Obscure Scales (Melanaspis obscura
[Comstock]), Oak Lace Bugs (Corythuca arcuata [Say]), and Oak Skeletonizers
(Bacculatrix ainsliella Murtfeldt)
REFERENCES
FALL COLORS AND WOODLAND HARVESTS
By C. Ritchie Bell and Anne H. Lindsey
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EDIBLE PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Francois Couplan, Ph. D.
EDIBLE WILD PLANTS
By Thomas S. Elias and Peter A. Dykeman
TREES OF PENNSYLVANIA AND THE NORTHEAST
By Charles Fergus and Amelia Hansen
TREES OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND CANADA
By William M. Harlow
OUR NATIVE TREES
By Harriet L. Keeler
DRINKS FROM THE WILDS
By Steven A. Krause
101 TREES OF INDIANA
By Marion T. Jackson
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
By Bruce Kershner, Daniel Matthews, Gil Nelson, and Richard Spellenberg
TREES OF THE CENTRAL HARDWOOD FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Donald J. Leopold, William C. McComb, and Robert N. Muller
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN TREES (EASTERN
REGION)
By Elbert L. Little
HOW TO KNOW THE TREES
By Howard A. Miller and H.E. Jaques
OAKS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Howard Miller and Samuel Lamb
NATIVE AMERICAN FOOD PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Daniel E. Moerman
TREES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
By Gil Nelson, Christopher J. Earle, and Richard Spellenberg
EDIBLE WILD PLANTS OF EASTERN/CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA
By Lee Allen Peterson
EASTERN TREES
By George A. Petrides
RED OAKS AND BLACK BIRCHES
By Rebecca Rupp
THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO TREES
By David Allen Sibley
OHIO TREES
By T. David Sydnor and William F. Cowen
TREES
By Lawrence C. Walker
NATIVE TREES OF THE MIDWEST
By Sally S. Weeks, Harmon P. Weeks, Jr., and George R. Parker
IDENTIFYING TREES
By Michael D. Williams
BARK: A FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF THE NORTHEAST
By Michael Wojtech
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_prinus