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Quercus taxonomy
Quercus muehlenbergii Engelm.
EOL Text
Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, and Tamaulipas).
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Chinkapin oak is rarely a predominant tree, but it grows in association with many other species. It is a component of the forest cover type White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Society of American Foresters Type 52) and the Post Oak-Blackjack Oak (Type 40) (2).
It grows in association with white oak (Quercus alba), black oak (Q. uelutina), northern red oak (Q. rubra), scarlet oak (Q. coccinea), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), red maple (A. rubrum), hickories (Carya spp.), black cherry (Prunus serotina), cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata), white ash (Fraxinus americana), American basswood (Tilia americana), black walnut (Juglans nigra), butternut (J. cinerea), and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). American beech (Fagus grandifolia), shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), pitch pine (P. rigida), Virginia pine (P. uirginiana), Ozark chinkapin (Castanea ozarkensis), eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), bluejack oak (Quercus incana), southern red oak (Q. falcata), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and winged elm (Ulmus alata) also grow in association with chinkapin oak. In the Missouri Ozarks a redcedar-chinkapin oak association has been described.
The most common small tree and shrub species found in association with chinkapin oak include flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum), eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), Vaccinium spp., Viburnum spp., hawthorns (Crataegus spp.), and sumacs (Rhus spp.). The most common woody vines are wild grape (Vitis spp.) and greenbrier (Smilax spp.).
Flowering late winter-spring.
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Wood of chinkapin oak is dark brown with a narrow, pale sapwood; it is
hard, heavy, strong, and durable [66]. These characteristics make it a
valuable wood for many uses [48]. It is commonly used as sawtimber and
is considered a member of the select white oak group [49].
When properly dried and treated, oak wood glues well, machines very
well, and accepts a variety of finishes [43]. It is widely used for
cabinets, furniture, pallets, and containers [43,53]. Oak wood was
traditionally used for railroad ties [53] and is commonly cut for
firewood [17].
More info for the term: tree
Chinkapin oak is a spreading, medium to large, deciduous tree which
generally reaches 16 to 52 feet (5-16 m) in height [50] but occasionally
grows to 80 or 90 feet (24-27 m) [46,66]. On exceptional sites in the
lower Wabash and Ohio valleys, individuals can reach 160 feet (48 m) in
height and up to 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter [23]. Chinkapin oak
typically has large, low branches and a rounded crown [66]. In closed
forest stands it develops a straight, columnar trunk, a dense rounded
crown, and fairly small branches [23]. In the open, plants usually
develop a short trunk and broad crown. Grayish-brown twigs are rigid
and glabrous [66]. The thin bark is light gray to silvery, and rough or
scaly [50,66]. The alternate, simple leaves are coriaceous and variable
in shape [66].
Severe wildfire kills saplings and small pole-size trees but these resprout. Fire scars serve as entry points for decay-causing fungi, however, and the resulting decay can cause serious losses.
Oak wilt (Ceratocystis fagacearum), a vascular disease, attacks chinkapin oak and usually kills the tree within 2 to 4 years. Other diseases that attack chinkapin oak include the cankers Strumella coryneoidea and Nectria galligena, shoestring root rot (Armillarea mellea), anthracnose (Gnomonia veneta), and leaf blister (Taphrina spp.) (4).
The most serious defoliating insects that attack chinkapin oak are the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), the orangestriped oakworm (Anisota senatoria), and the variable oakleaf caterpillar (Heterocampa manteo). Insects that bore into the bole and seriously degrade the products cut from infested trees include the carpenterworm. (Prionoyxstus robiniae), little carpenterworm (P. macmurtrei), white oak borer (Goes tigrinus), Columbian timber beetle (Corthylus columbianus), oak timberworm (Arrhenodes minutus), and twolined chestnut borer (Agrilus bilineatus). The acorn weevils (Curculio spp.), larvae of moths (Valentinia glandulella and Melissopus latiferreanus), and gallforming cynipids (Callirhytis spp.) attack and destroy the acorns (4).
Chinkapin oak sprouts readily and like other oaks the tops of advance reproduction generally are younger than the roots. Stumps of cut trees also sprout but no relation between sprouting frequency and stump size or age has been determined (7).
Rooting of stem cuttings and budding techniques have not been successful in propagating chinkapin oak, but some success has been attained with grafting (4).
Browse: Nutrient content of oak leaves has been reported as follows
[45]:
Dry Crude Ether N-free
matter Ash fiber extract extract Protein
---------------------percent dry matter------------------
100 56 27.4 2.5 54.3 10.2
Acorns: Most acorns are nutritious [28] and high in carbohydrates [29].
Acorns of the white oaks are generally low in lipids (5 to 10 percent)
and tannins (0.5 to 2.5 percent) [62].
Trees , deciduous, moderate to large, to 30 m, occasionally large shrubs (ca. 3 m) on drier sites. Bark gray, thin, flaky to papery. Twigs 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: petiole (7-)10-30(-37) mm. Leaf 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 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) × l0-13(-16) mm. Cotyledons distinct. 2 n = 24.
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| Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
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More info for the terms: prescribed fire, series
Prescribed fire: Prescribed fire can be an important tool for
regenerating oak stands because it tends to promote vigorous sprouting,
reduce competing vegetation [55], and expose mineral soil, which favors
seedling establishment. A series of low-intensity prescribed fires
prior to timber harvest can promote advanced regeneration in oaks [72].
[See Management Considerations]. The effects of fire on oaks may vary;
in some cases fire can kill or injure oaks, but in others fire has
little effect [55]. In the southern Appalachians, biennial summer burns
are often effective in promoting advance regeneration, while single
preharvest or postharvest burns generally have little effect [72].