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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