Part 50

SPANISH OAK Quercus falcata Michx.

Other Name: Southern Red Oak.

Growth Form: Large tree up to 80 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 4 feet; crown broadly rounded, with stiff, stout, spreading branchlets; trunk straight, rather stout.

Bark: Dark brown to nearly black, shallowly furrowed.

Twigs: Reddish-brown to gray, smooth or nearly so at maturity; pith star-shaped in cross-section; leaf scars alternate but clustered near the tip, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces.

Buds: Ovoid, pointed, chestnut-brown, hairy, up to ¼ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades broadly rounded at the base, 3- to 5-lobed, the terminal lobe usually long, narrow, and strongly curved, all lobes bristle-tipped, up to 8 inches long, up to 6 inches wide, green on the upper surface, pale and densely soft-hairy on the lower surface; leaf stalk up to 2½ inches long, slender, usually hairy.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing when the leaves begin to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate in slender, drooping, densely hairy catkins, the pistillate few in a rusty-hairy cluster, with dark red stigmas.

Fruit: Acorn usually solitary, with or without a short stalk, the nut spherical or ellipsoid, up to ½ inch long, orange-brown, the cup covering only up to ⅓ of the nut, with hairy, reddish-brown scales.

Wood: Heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, reddish-brown.

Uses: Fence posts, fuel, general construction.

Habitat: Dry and usually poor upland soil; occasionally in bottomlands.

Range: Central New Jersey south to central Florida, across to eastern Texas, up the Mississippi Basin to central Missouri, south-central Illinois, southeastern Indiana, western Kentucky, and western Tennessee.

Distinguishing Features: The Spanish Oak is the only bristle-tipped oak in Illinois in which the lower leaf surface is covered with a mat of fine hairs.

SHINGLE OAK Quercus imbricaria Michx.

Growth Form: Medium tree up to 70 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 feet; crown rounded or oblong, with many branches; trunk straight, columnar.

Bark: Dark brown, deeply furrowed between flat, tight plates.

Twigs: Slender, smooth, reddish-brown; pith star-shaped in cross-sections; leaf scars alternate but crowded near the tip of the twigs, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces.

Buds: Ovoid, pointed, brown, smooth, up to ⅛ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades without lobes or teeth, lanceolate to oblong, with a bristle tip, narrowed to the base, up to 6 inches long, up to 2 inches wide, dark green, smooth and shiny on the upper surface, paler and hairy on the lower surface; leafstalks up to ½ inch long, stout, hairy.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing as the leaves begin to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate in slender, yellow, drooping catkins, the pistillate few in a cluster.

Fruit: Acorns solitary or 2 together, stalked, the nut nearly spherical, dark brown, less than half enclosed by the cup, the cup reddish-brown and slightly hairy.

Wood: Hard, heavy, coarse-grained, light reddish-brown.

Uses: Shingles, general construction.

Habitat: Moist soil along streams or in woods; occasionally on dry, exposed sandstone cliffs.

Range: New Jersey across to Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska, south to Kansas, east to Arkansas and South Carolina.

Distinguishing Features: Only the Shingle Oak and the Willow Oak, among all the oaks, have leaves without any teeth or lobes. The Shingle Oak generally has broader leaves than does the Willow Oak. The Shingle Oak can be told from Magnolias by its star-shaped pith and the formation of acorns.

OVERCUP OAK Quercus lyrata Walt.