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Quercus taxonomy
Quercus velutina Lam.
EOL Text
Overall The tree has alternate branching. Forest-grown trees have tall, clear trunks with thick limbs creating an irregular, rounded crown. On poor sites the tree often has a limby trunk. (Weeks et al, 2005)
Flowers Flowers are yellow. (USDA PLANTS, 2009) The male catkins are single or often several together. They descend from a scaly bud, drooping and slender, with caducous (early dropping) bracts. Each possesses a 2-8-parted calyx, and 3-12 stamens. Female flowers are scattered or somewhat clustered. Each contains a 3-celled ovary and 3-lobed stigma and is enclosed in a bud-like scaly involucre (a collection or rosette of bracts)which develops later as the cup of the fruit which is an acorn. (Peattie, 1930) Male flowers are conspicuous and hang downward in clusters. Female flowers are inconspicuous and are tiny spikes in the axils of the new leaves. (Weeks et al, 2005)
Fruit is a light reddish brown acorn, housed in a scaly, bowl-shaped cup. (Hultman, 1978) The scales of the cup are loosely overlapping. Th cup is hemispheric, short-stalked, and pubescent (hairy), about half as high as the ovoid acorn. (Peattie, 1930) The acorns are often striped, with a shaggy cap and are lightly hairy overall. The nut is enclosed by a shaggy-scaled, top-shaped cap. The meat is yellow and bitter. (Weeks et al, 2005) Fruit are abundant. (USDA PLANTS, 2009)
Leaves are variable, tough, and leathery. They possess 5-7 bristle-tipped lobes. (Hultman, 1978) Leaf margins are lobed with the veins extending beyond them as bristle tips. Leaves can be pinnatifid (clefts reaching halfway or more to the midrib) or lobed (cleftsextending less than halfway to the midrib). There are roughly 8 principal and narrow sinuses. When young leaves are firm, brown, and pubescent. With age leaves become dark green, dull, and smooth above, and paler beneath, with pubescent veins. (Peattie, 1930) Leaves are dark green and shiny, with 5-7 bristle-tipped lobes. The sinuses may be deep or shallow. Leaves are hairy underneath. Lower canopy shade leaves may be nearly unlobed, with especially hairy undersides. Leaves on the same tree can be very different shapes, confusing identification, but typically the sinuses on the leaves deepen going up the tree. (Weeks et al, 2005)
Buds are clustered terminally. They are pointed and angles in cross section. The numerous, overlapping scales are covered with dense tan-gray hairs. (Weeks et al, 2005)
Twigs are reddish brown and smooth by maturity. (Weeks et al, 2005)
Bark is dark in color and bright orange or yellow underneath. (Hultman, 1978)The tree bears dark brown or black furrowed outer bark and orange inner bark. (Peattie, 1930) The bark is dark, nearly black, with thick, blocky, vertical ridges on the lower trunk. Bark may have "ski-tracks", but only in the upper half of the tree. (Weeks et al, 2005)
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Rights holder/Author | Beck, Nicholas, Beck, Nicholas, Indiana Dunes Bioblitz |
Source | http://indianadunes.lifedesks.org/pages/77 |
Black Oak (Society of American Foresters Type 110) is the forest cover type that designates pure stands of the species or those in which it makes up more than 50 percent of the stand basal area. Black oak is a major associate in White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Type 52), and a component in the following forest cover types (8):
Northern Forest Region
14 Northern Pin Oak
51 White Pine-Chestnut Oak
60 Beech-Sugar Maple
Central Forest Region
40 Post Oak-Blackjack Oak
42 Bur Oak
43 Bear Oak
44 Chestnut Oak
45 Pitch Pine
46 Eastern Redcedar
53 White Oak
55 Northern Red Oak
57 Yellow-Poplar
58 Yellow-Poplar-Eastern Hemlock
59 Yellow-Poplar-White Oak-Northern Red Oak
Southern Forest Region
75 Shortleaf Pine
76 Shortleaf Pine-Oak
78 Virginia Pine-Oak
79 Virginia Pine
80 Loblolly Pine-Shortleaf Pine
82 Loblolly Pine-Hardwood
Other tree associates of black oak include pignut hickory (Carya glabra), mockernut hickory (C. tomentosa), bitternut hickory (C. cordiformis), and shagbark hickory (C. ovata); American elm (Ulmus americana) and slippery elm (U. rubra); white ash (Fraxinus americana); black walnut (Juglans nigra) and butternut (J. cinerea); scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), southern red oak (Q. falcata), and chinkapin oak (Q. muehlenbergii); red maple (Acer rubrum) and sugar maple (A. saccharum); black cherry (Prunus serotina); and blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) (5).
Common small tree associates of black oak include flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), redbud (Cercis canadensis), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), and American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia). Common shrubs include Vaccinium spp., mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia), witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), sumac (Rhus spp.), and Viburnum spp. The most common vines are greenbrier (Smilax spp.), grape (Vitis spp.), poison-ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) (5).
Flowering spring.
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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=233501095 |
Black oak naturally regenerated on abandoned lead-zinc mine sites in
Wisconsin and Iowa. The soil has high concentrations of lead and zinc,
but soil pH is not very low [9]. Minor amounts of black oak were
planted on Indiana surface mines between 1928 and 1975 [10], but its
success on these sites has not been documented in the literature.
Tree is 50-60' tall. (Hultman, 1978) The tree can attain heights of 100' on good sites. (Weeks et al, 2005) At 20 years the tree attains a maximum of 25', attaining 90' at maturity. (USDA PLANTS, 2009)
Fruit the acorns are 3/4" long. (Weeks et al, 2005)
Leaves are 5-7" long. (Hultman, 1978)
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Rights holder/Author | Beck, Nicholas, Beck, Nicholas, Indiana Dunes Bioblitz |
Source | http://indianadunes.lifedesks.org/pages/77 |
Wildfires seriously damage black oak trees by killing the cambial tissue at the base of the trees. This creates an entry point for decay fungi, and the end result is loss of volume because of heart rot. Trees up to pole size are easily killed by fire and severe fires may even kill sawtimber. Many of the killed trees sprout and form a new stand (6). However, the economic loss may be large unless at least some of it can be salvaged.
Oak wilt (Ceratocystis fagacearum) is a potentially serious vascular disease of black oak that is widespread throughout the eastern United States. Trees die within a few weeks after the symptoms first appear. Usually scattered individuals or small groups of trees are killed, but areas several hectares (acres) in size may be affected. The disease is spread from tree to tree through root grafts and over larger distances by sap-feeding beetles (Nitidulidae) and the small oak bark beetle (6).
Shoestring root rot (Armillaria mellea) attacks black oak and may kill trees weakened by fire, lightning, drought, insects, or other diseases. A root rot, Phytophthora cinnamomi, may kill seedlings in the nursery. Cankers caused by Strumella and Nectria species damage the holes of black oak but seldom kill trees. Foliage diseases that attack black oak are the same as those that typically attack species in the red oak group and include anthracnose (Gnomonia quercina), leaf blister (Taphrina spp.), powdery mildews (Phyllactinia corylea and Microsphaera alni), oak-pine rusts (Cronartium spp.), and leaf spots (Actinopelte dryina) (13).
Tunneling insects that attack the boles of black oak and cause serious lumber degrade include the carpenterworm (Prionoxystus robiniae), red oak borer (Enaphalodes rufulus), the twolined chestnut borer (Agrilus bilineatus), the oak timberworm (Arrhenodes minutus), and the Columbian timber beetle (Corthylus columbianus) (3).
The gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) feeds on foliage and is potentially the most destructive insect. Although black oaks withstood a single defoliation, two or three defoliations in successive years killed many trees in New Jersey (17). Other defoliators that attack black oak and may occasionally be epidemic are the variable oakleaf caterpillar (Heterocampa manteo), the orangestriped oakworm (Anisota senatoria), and the browntail moth (Euproctis chrysorrhoea).
The nut weevils (Curculio spp.), gall-forming cynipids (Callirhytis spp.), filbertworm (Melissopus latiferreanus), and acorn moth (Valentinia glandulel1a) damage black oak acorns.
This is a perennial tree, with Spring and Summer as active growth periods, and conspicuous Fall foliage. (USDA PLANTS, 2009) Blooms in May to June. In the Great Lakes Region of the USA the oak woods of the high dunes, more than any other trees, give to the autumn woods of this area their glorious appearance. (Peattie, 1930) On these moist sites it often begins seed production at 20 years of age. Leaves may be retained into winter. Flowers appear in April and May along with leaves. Fruit ripens in the fall. (Weeks et al, 2005)
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Beck, Nicholas, Beck, Nicholas, Indiana Dunes Bioblitz |
Source | http://indianadunes.lifedesks.org/pages/77 |
Black oak acorns provide food for numerous wildlife species including
squirrels, mice, voles, white-tailed deer, and wild turkey. In
Illinois, fox squirrels have been seen feeding on black oak catkins [56].
Black oak has a high cavity value for wildlife [15]. Trunk cavities in
live black oaks were important nest sites for the northern flicker on
Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Mean nest height was approximately 3.3
feet (1 m) above the ground [43].
Fagaceae -- Beech family
Ivan L. Sander
Black oak (Quercus velutina) is a common, medium-sized to large oak of the eastern and midwestern United States. It is sometimes called yellow oak, quercitron, yellowbark oak, or smoothbark oak. It grows best on moist, rich, well-drained soils, but it is often found on poor, dry sandy or heavy glacial clay hillsides where it seldom lives more than 200 years. Good crops of acorns provide wildlife with food. The wood, commercially valuable for furniture and flooring, is sold as red oak. Black oak is seldom used for landscaping.
Quercus tinctoria W. Bartram
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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=233501095 |