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Quercus taxonomy
Quercus stellata Wangenh.
EOL Text
The range of post oak extends from southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, southern Connecticut and extreme southeastern New York (including Long Island); west to southeastern Pennsylvania and West Virginia, central Ohio, southern Indiana, central Illinois, southeastern Iowa and Missouri; south to eastern Kansas, western Oklahoma, northwestern and central Texas; and east to central Florida (10).
It is a large and abundant tree in the southern Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, and the lower slopes of the Appalachians. It is common in the southwest and grows in pure stands in the prairie transition region of central Oklahoma and Texas known as the "Cross Timbers" (2).
Sand post oak (Quercus stellata var. margaretta (Ashe) Sarg.) ranges from southeastern Virginia, west to Missouri and eastern Oklahoma, south to central Texas, and east to central Florida. Delta post oak (Q. stellata var. paludosa Sarg.) is found in bottom lands of the Mississippi River in western Mississippi, southeast Arkansas, and Louisiana, and west to east Texas (10).
-The native range of post oak.
Quercus stellata is often identified by its commonly cross-shaped leaf form, particularly in the eastern part of its range. All individuals and populations do not express this characteristic, however. Moreover, Q . stellata has broad overlap with Q . margaretta and even with some forms of the blackjack oak, Q . marilandica , one of its most common associates. The thick yellowish twigs with indument of stellate hairs and the dense harsh stellate hairs on the abaxial leaf surface are better diagnostic characteristics when variation includes leaf forms that are not obviously cruciform.
Native Americans used Quercus stellata medicinally for indigestion, chronic dysentery, mouth sores, chapped skin, hoarseness, and milky urine, as an antiseptic, and as a wash for fever and chills (D. E. Moerman 1986).
Putative hybrids are known with Quercus marilandica , Q . alba , and various other white oaks. Quercus stellata is also one of the few oaks that appears to produce hybrids with species in the live oak group, although obvious intermediates are rarely encountered. Nothospecies names based on putative hybrids involving Q . stellata include: Q . × stelloides E. J. Palmer (= Q . prinoides × Q . stellata ), Q . × mahloni E. J. Palmer (as Q . sinuata var. breviloba × Q . stellata ), Q . × pseudomargaretta Trelease (= Q . margaretta × Q . stellata ), Q . × sterretti Trelease (= Q . lyrata × Q . stellata ), Q . × macnabiana Sudworth (= Q . sinuata × Q . stellata ), Q . × guadalupensis Sargent (= Q . sinuata × Q . stellata ), Q . × fernowi Trelease (= Q . alba × Q . stellata ), and Q . × bernardensis W. Wolf (= Q . montana × Q . stellata ).
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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=233501087 |
Trees , deciduous, to 20(-30) m. Bark light gray, scaly. Twigs yellowish or grayish, (2-)3-5 mm diam., densely stellate-pubescent. Buds reddish brown, ovoid, to 4 mm, apex obtuse or acute, sparsely pubescent. Leaves: petiole 3-15(-30) mm. Leaf blade obovate to narrowly obovate, elliptic or obtriangular, 40-150(-200) × 20-100(-120) mm, rather stiff and hard, base rounded-attenuate to cordate, sometimes cuneate, margins shallowly to deeply lobed, lobes rounded or spatulate, usually distal 2 lobes divergent at right angles to midrib in cruciform pattern, secondary veins 3-5 on each side, apex broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially yellowish green, with crowded yellowish glandular hairs and scattered minute, 6-8-rayed, appressed or semi-appressed stellate hairs, not velvety to touch, adaxially dark or yellowish green, dull or glossy, sparsely stellate, often somewhat sandpapery with harsh hairs. Acorns 1-3, subsessile or on peduncle to 6(-40) mm; cup deeply saucer-shaped, proximally rounded or constricted, 7-12(-18) mm deep × (7-)10-15(-25) mm wide, enclosing 1/4-2/3 nut, scales tightly appressed, finely grayish pubescent; nut light brown, ovoid or globose, 10-20 × 8-12(-20) mm, glabrous or finely puberulent. Cotyledons distinct.
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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=233501087 |
Quercus stellata is an oak in the white oak group. It is a small tree, typically 10–15 m tall and 30–60 cm trunk diameter, though occasional specimens reach 30 m tall and 140 cm diameter. It is native to the eastern United States, from Connecticut in the northeast, to central Texas in the southwest. It is one of the most common oaks in the southern part of the eastern prairies, such as in the Cross Timbers.
Quercus stellata is often identified by its commonly cross-shaped leaf form, particularly in the eastern part of its range. All individuals and populations do not express this characteristic, however. Moreover, Q . stellata has broad overlap with Q . margaretta and even with some forms of the blackjack oak, Q . marilandica, one of its most common associates. The thick yellowish twigs with indument of stellate hairs and the dense harsh stellate hairs on the abaxial leaf surface are better diagnostic characteristics when variation includes leaf forms that are not obviously cruciform.
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Rights holder/Author | Nathan Wilson, Nathan Wilson |
Source | No source database. |
More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):
More info for the terms: hardwood, swamp
40 Post oak - blackjack oak
43 Bear oak
44 Chestnut oak
45 Pitch pine
46 Eastern redcedar
51 White pine - chestnut oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
68 Mesquite
69 Sand pine
70 Longleaf pine
71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
72 Southern scrub oak
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
78 Virginia pine - oak
79 Virginia pine
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
110 Black oak
More info for the terms: hypogeal, litter, monoecious, root crown
Sexual: Post oak is monoecious. Seed production begins when the tree
is about 25 years old. Good crops occur at 2- to 3-year intervals.
Post oak does not produce as many acorns as white oak, blackjack oak,
black oak (Quercus velutina), or scarlet oak (Q. coccinea) [47].
Acorns germinate in autumn soon after falling. Germination is hypogeal.
The ideal seedbed is moist soil covered with 1 inch (2.5 cm) or more of
leaf litter. Height and diameter growth are slow; 10 year d.b.h. growth
generally averages less than 2 inches (5 cm). Post oak usually grows
more slowly than any associated trees except blackjack oak [47].
Average annual height growth of seedlings in Missouri during a 6 year
period was 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) [29].
Seedlings are resistant to drought but not to flooding [47]. Post oak
seedlings were more drought tolerant than white oak, black oak, or
northern red oak (Q. rubra), primarily because of greater drought
tolerance of leaf and root cells [57].
Vegetative: Trees up to 10 inches (25 cm) in d.b.h. sprout prolifically
from the root crown after being top-killed. Post oak tends to have
fewer sprouts per clump than black, chestnut, white, or scarlet oaks
[47]. Post oak sprouts grow faster than seedlings [29]. In the Cross
Timbers area of Oklahoma, post oak often occurs in small clusters of two
to six trees. These clusters may represent a single individual because
the species occasionally reproduces vegetatively from roots, especially
under moisture stress [8].
The preference is full sun and mesic to dry conditions that are well-drained. The soil can contain loam, clay, sand, or stony material. The size of this tree is strongly influenced by moisture levels and fertility of the soil. Toleration of drought and heat are excellent, while toleration of waterlogged conditions is poor. While it is normally a small- to medium-sized tree in the wild, in cultivation Post Oak can become large-sized. The growth rate is relatively slow; individual trees can live 200-400 years. Acorns are produced on individual trees in about 25 years. The acorns do not require a winter dormancy in order to germinate; they should be planted in the ground after falling during the autumn. Various fungi can produce spots, blotches, blisters, and blights on the foliage, reducing its attractiveness. Post Oak is hardy to at least Zone 5 if a northern ecotype is selected.
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Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/post_oak.html |
Quercus stellata Wangenh.
Distribution
Upland forests and woodlands.
Notes
Apr; Sep–Nov (of same year). Not seen in Shaken Creek Preserve by the senior author. Specimens seen in the vicinity: Sandy Run [Neck]: Wilbur 55283 (DUKE!). [= RAB, FNA, Weakley]
License | Public Domain |
Rights holder/Author | No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation. |
Source | http://treatment.plazi.org/id/4CEFDF1FEFB80774BB33486BDF74EBC2 |
More info on this topic.
This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES39 Prairie
More info on this topic.
More info for the term: phanerophyte
Phanerophyte