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Quercus taxonomy
Quercus ilicifolia Wangenh.
EOL Text
More info for the terms: monoecious, shrub, tree
This description provides characteristics that may be relevant to fire ecology, and is not meant for identification. Keys for identification are available (e.g. [30,31,48,107,116,129]).
Aboveground description: Bear oak is a deciduous gangly shrub or small tree that often forms dense thickets. It ranges from 3 to 30 feet (1-8 m) tall and 2 to 6 inches (5-15 cm) in diameter [30,31,48,107,116,129]. Stems are short-lived and grow slowly [109,134]. The typical stem life span is 20 to 30 years; however, the bear oak root system is reportedly long lived and may support several generations of short-lived stems [99,134].
Leaves are arranged alternately. Leaf length measures 2 to 6 inches (5-15 cm), and the width is 1 to 4 inches (3-10 cm) [30,31,48,101,116,129]. Bear oak is monoecious, with both male and female flowers on the same plant. Male flowers are catkins and female flowers are borne in clusters or singly. Female flowers are produced on current-year's growth [31,107,116,135]. Acorns are egg-shaped and measure 0.4 to 0.8 inch (1-2 cm) long. The acorn cup is saucer shaped with large scales and covers about 1/2 the nut. Bear oak requires 2 growing seasons to produce fruit [31,48,55,107,116].
Belowground description: Underground bear oak structures carefully excavated from the New Jersey pine barrens revealed that bear oak stems arise from a "massive" irregularly shaped taproot. The taproot is commonly 2 to 4 inches (5-10 cm) thick but may measure as thick as 7 inches (20 cm). Three common root structures were observed. One type had a single main taproot that reached 20 to 36 inches (51-91 cm) deep and lateral roots that lay just below the soil surface. Another had 2 main taproots and several well-developed lateral roots. Root systems with 2 or more main roots growing vertically or obliquely were also common. Two other root types were observed but were less common. One had a single main taproot that extended obliquely, and the other had 1 taproot that forked within a few inches of the soil surface allowing 2 taproot branches to extend horizontally at a depth of 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) [75].
Bear oak roots did not reach into the water table even when it was shallow (1 to 2 feet (0.3-0.6 m), and bear oak was absent or scarce on imperfectly to poorly drained soils. Bear oak roots are intolerant of saturated conditions, which may explain some of the variation in root structure in the New Jersey pine barrens [75].
More info on this topic.
More info for the term: phanerophyte
RAUNKIAER [102] LIFE FORM:
Phanerophyte
Trees or shrubs , deciduous, to 6 m. Bark dark gray, becoming shallowly fissured and scaly, inner bark pinkish. Twigs brown or yellowish brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., pubescent. Terminal buds dark reddish brown, ovoid, 2-4.5 mm, apex puberulent. Leaves: petiole (8-)10-25 mm, pubescent. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 50-120 × 30-90 mm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins with 3-7 acute lobes separated by shallow sinuses and 5-14 awns, apex acute; surfaces abaxially pale green to gray, tomentose, adaxially glossy dark green, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. Acorns biennial; cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 5-9 mm high × 10.5-17 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3(-1/2) nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut ovoid to subglobose, 9.5-16 × 8-11 mm, striate, puberulent, scar diam. 4.8-7 mm. 2 n = 24.
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Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501046 |
Quercus nana (Marshall) Sargent
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501046 |
Bear oak flowers from May to June in the southeastern U.S. [31], and flowering is often earlier in southern and coastal bear oak habitats than in northern and continental habitats.
Flowering: | |
North and South Carolina | May to June [129] |
Massachusetts (eastern) | mid- to late May [2] |
West Virginia | May [116] |
Atlantic Coast | May [30] |
Blue Ridge Province | April to May [101] |
Fruiting: | |
North and South Carolina | August [129] |
Flowers are produced prior to leaf out [57]. A single flush of leaves is produced over a 7- to 10-day period in mid- to late May in eastern Massachusetts [2]. Leaves persist through the winter [116].
Bear oak is capable of producing a 2nd growth flush if defoliated severely by herbivores or if plants experience a killing frost [2]. May and Killingbeck [84] studied the 2nd set of bear oak leaves produced following severe defoliation by gypsy moths in Rhode Island. They found that the 2nd flush of leaves had increased specific mass. This may indicate an increase in tannins and phenols that may result in "tougher" leaves and decreased subsequent herbivory.
Microclimate and site conditions may also affect the seasonal development of bear oak. Along a north-facing slope gradient in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, bear oak flowering and leaf out was delay by nearly a month in the bottom of a depression as compared to the top of a slope [1].
More info for the term: cover
Throughout its range, bear oak occupies dry mountain, upland, barren, and slope sites [101,116,129]. Bear oak is sensitive to salt spray in areas with low water availability and is likely restricted from extreme coastal locations [54].
Climate: Bear oak habitats have very similar climate regimes; however, temperature extremes are typically less pronounced in more coastal habitats. On Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, the climate is mild. Average winter and summer temperatures are 30 °F (0 °C) and 70 °F (20 °C), respectively. Average annual precipitation is 47 inches (1,200 mm), and thunderstorms commonly occur about 20 times a year [44]. In southern New Jersey, average temperatures are similar. The coldest month is typically February when temperatures average 29 to 34 °F (-1.7-1.1 °C). The warmest month is July when temperatures average 73 to 77 °F (23-25 °C). However, the record high as of 1934 was 107 °F (42 °C), and the record low was -16 °F (-27 °C) [83]. In Maryland's Appalachian Province, there are commonly 120 to 150 days with below freezing temperatures, and the average annual precipitation is 43 inches (1,100 mm), most of which falls in June [14]. In central Pennsylvania, late spring frosts are common [60].
Elevation: The bear oak forest cover type occupies elevations from near sea level to 3,000 feet (1,000 m) throughout its range [60]. Bear oak is restricted to elevations of less than 1,000 feet (300 m) in the Adirondacks of New York [68] and from 1,500 to 2,500 feet (460-760 m) in North Carolina [4].
Soils: Bear oak grows on sandy, rocky, well-drained, nutrient-poor soils [30,31,48,60,127]. In northern Virginia's Blue Ridge Province, Table Mountain pine/bear oak/heath woodlands are found in infertile soils with low pH, calcium, and magnesium levels but high iron and aluminum levels [41]. In the Appalachians, bear oak is common on shallow soils [21].
Flowering spring.
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Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501046 |
More info for the terms: shrub, shrubs
Much of the literature refers to a group of scrub or shrub oaks describing
a community of shrubby oak species. This group may include any or all of the following species: bear oak, blackjack
oak, and dwarf chinkapin oak (Quercus prinoides). In this review, all
scrub or shrub oak communities mentioned included bear oak.
Bear oak is a dominant species in the following vegetation classifications:
United States
―
Maine (southern):
mixed deciduous forests dominated by red maple (Acer rubrum), gray birch (Betula populifolia), and
quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) with a lesser amount of pitch pine (Pinus rigida)pitch pine/bear oak vegetation
bear oak communities with dense bear oak thickets and scattered pitch pine [22]
Maryland:
chestnut oak (Q. prinus)/bear oak vegetation in the Appalachian Province of Allegheny County [14]
Massachusetts:
pitch pine-bear oak communities dominate the
area immediately surrounding Halfway Pond in Plymouth County [33]black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata)-bear oak tall
shrublands on Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard, less common on Martha's Vineyard [35]pitch pine/bear oak/broom crowberry (Corema conradii) and pitch pine/bear
oak-northern bayberry (Morella pensylvanica) communities of the Cape Cod National Seashore [36]pitch pine/bear oak, manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.)-bear oak,
mixed oak-pine/huckleberry (Quercus-Pinus-Gaylussacia spp.) vegetation types on Cape Cod [94]
pitch pine woodlands in the central part of the state with shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and
Virginia pine (P. virginiana) possible [53]pitch pine-post oak (Q. stellata) and chestnut oak forests of the central pine barrens [85]
pitch pine/bear oak communities in the pine barrens region [98]
plains community type with a pitch pine overstory and post oak and
sassafras (Sassafras spp.) occasionally present, all vegetation is less than 11 feet (3.4 m) talltransition community dominated by same species as the plains community, but trees are larger with
"poor" forms or shapesbarrens community with an open canopy dominated by pitch pine but
with some shortleaf pine, Virginia pine, white oak (Q. alba), chestnut oak, scarlet oak, and black oak possible [83]
New York:
open-canopy community dominated by stunted pitch pine, shrub oaks, and a dense layer of ericaceous shrubs in the Hudson
Valley [106]barrens communities dominated by pitch pine with some scattered white oak and
chestnut oak on Long Islandtransition communities dominated by bear oak; plains communities
with dwarfed pitch pine, bear oak, and low-growing huckleberry and blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) on Long Island [99]woodlands with a mixed canopy of pitch pine, northern red oak, and eastern
white pine (P. strobus) in the northeast [7]
Virginia:
Table Mountain pine (P. pungens)/bear oak/heath woodlands in the Blue Ridge Province [41]
Eastern U.S.:
dry slope and ridge forests of the valley and ridge Appalachian provinces [86]
Canada
―
Ontario:
granite and sand barrens in the southern part of the province [20]
Canada
Rounded National Status Rank: N1 - Critically Imperiled
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure
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