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Quercus taxonomy
Quercus shumardii Buckley
EOL Text
Trees , deciduous, to 35 m. Bark gray-brown to dark brown, shallowly fissured with scaly or light-colored flat ridges, inner bark pinkish. Twigs gray to light brown, (1.5-)2-3.5(-4.5) mm diam., glabrous. Terminal buds gray to grayish brown, ovoid or broadly ellipsoid, 4-8 mm, often noticeably 5-angled in cross section, glabrous. Leaves: petiole 20-60 mm, glabrous. Leaf blade broadly elliptic to obovate, 100-200 × 60-150 mm, base obtuse to truncate, occasionally acute, margins with 5-9 lobes and 15-50 awns, lobes oblong or distally expanded, apex acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for prominent axillary tufts of tomentum, adaxially glossy, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. Acorns biennial; cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 7-12 mm high × 15-30 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3 nut, outer surface glabrous or puberulent, inner surface light-brown to red-brown, glabrous or with ring of pubescence around scar, scales often with pale margins, tips tightly appressed, obtuse or acute; nut ovoid to oblong, occasionally subglobose, 14-30 × 10-20 mm, glabrous, scar diam. 6.5-12 mm.
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Shumard oak is found in the Atlantic Coastal Plain primarily from North Carolina to northern Florida and west to central Texas; it is also found north in the Mississippi River Valley to central Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, Missouri, southern Illinois, Indiana, western and southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It is found locally north to southern Michigan, southern Pennsylvania, and Maryland (4).
-The native range of Shumard oak.
Shumard oak begins to produce fruit at about 25 years, with optimum production at about 50 years and good crops every 2–3 years. Germination occurs at high frequencies; full light is required for good seedling establishment and growth. Shumard oaks are known to have reached at least 480 years of age.
Flowering spring.
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| Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
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Shumard oak is planted as an ornamental [38].
Shumard oak acorns are bitter, but are edible if the tannins are leached
out. They can be ground and used as flour, roasted and ground to make
coffee, or eaten whole [12,22]. Native Americans had many uses for the
bark and acorns of oaks, probably including Shumard oak [22].
Ont.; Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Mich., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.
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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=233501082 |
Shumard oak is included in the forest cover type Swamp Chestnut Oak-Cherrybark Oak (Society of American Foresters Type 91), a bottom-land type of the Southern Forest Region (1). Shumard oak is a prominent hardwood associate of this type, along with green and white ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica and F. americana), the hickories, shagbark (Carya ovata), shellbark (C. laciniosa), mockernut (C. tomentosa), and bitternut (C. cordiformis), as well as white oak (Quercus alba), Delta post oak (Q. stellata var. paludosa) and blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica). Main associates in the type are willow oak (Quercus phellos), water oak (Q. falcata), southern red oak (Q. falcata var. falcata), post oak (Q. stellata), American elm (Ulmus americana), winged elm (U. alata), water hickory (Carya aquatica), southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), beech (Fagus grandifolia), and occasionally loblolly (Pinus taeda) and spruce (P. glabra) pines.
Shumard oak is often included in cover types Ash-Juniper-Redberry (Pinchot) Juniper (Type 66) and Mohrs (Shin) Oak (Type 67). Some of the other associates of Shumard oak include red buckeye (Aesculus pavia), devils-walkingstick (Aralia spinosa), American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), witch-hazel (Hamamelis uirginiana), American holly (Ilex opaca), red mulberry (Morus rubra), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), and American basswood (Tilia caroliniana).
Shumard oak does not propagate readily on moist sites or by cuttings.
Shumard oak occurs on moist, well-drained loamy soils of stream and river terraces and adjacent ridges and bluffs as well as mesic slopes and poorly drained upland sites, at elevations of 0–500 meters. It is intolerant or only weakly tolerant of flooding and does not usually occur on the lowest river bottoms. Shumard oak is intolerant of shade but rare in early successional stands, probably colonizing gaps in mature forests. It usually occurs as scattered trees with more prominent southern oak species of the oak-hickory forest region.
Flowering occurs from March-April (June) and fruiting from September-October.