Quercus montana

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Chestnut oak
Chestnut Oak in Weiser State Forest.JPG
In Weiser State Forest
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus subg. Quercus
Section: Quercus sect. Quercus
Species:
Q. montana
Binomial name
Quercus montana
Quercus prinus range map.jpg
Natural range
Synonyms [2] [3]
  • Quercus prinus L.

Quercus montana, the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in southern Michigan. It is also sometimes called rock oak because of its presence in montane and other rocky habitats.

Contents

Description

As a consequence of its dry habitat and ridgetop exposure, Quercus montana is not usually a large tree, typically growing to 18–22 metres (59–72 feet) tall; specimens growing in better conditions can grow up to 40–43 m (131–141 ft) tall. They tend to have a similar spread of 18–22 m (59–72 ft). A 10-year-old sapling grown in full sun will stand about 5 m (16 ft) tall. This species is often an important canopy species in an oak-heath forest. [4] [5]

It is readily identified by its massively-ridged dark gray-brown bark, the thickest of any eastern North American oak. The leaves are 12–20 centimetres (4+347+34 inches) long and 6–10 cm (2+14–4 in) broad, shallowly lobed with 10–15 rounded lobes on each margin; they are virtually identical to the leaves of swamp chestnut oak and chinkapin oak, but the trees can readily be distinguished by the bark, that of the chinkapin oak being a light ash-gray and somewhat peeling like that of the white oak and that of swamp chestnut oak being paler ash-gray and scaly. The chinkapin oak also has much smaller acorns than the chestnut oak. The chestnut oak is easily distinguished from the swamp white oak because that tree has whitened undersides on the leaves. Another important distinction between the chestnut oak and the swamp chestnut oak is by the habitat; if it grows on a ridge, it is chestnut oak, and if it grows in wet bottomlands, it is probably the more massive swamp chestnut oak; however, this is not fully reliable.

Characteristics include: [6]

The acorns of the chestnut oak are 1.5–3 cm (121+14 in) long and 1–2 cm (3834 in) broad, [7] among the largest of Native American oaks, surpassed in size only by the bur oak and possibly swamp chestnut oak.[ citation needed ]

Taxonomy and nomenclature

Extensive confusion between the chestnut oak (Quercus montana) and the swamp chestnut oak ( Quercus michauxii ) has occurred, and some botanists have considered them to be the same species in the past.

The name Quercus prinus was long used by many botanists and foresters for either the chestnut oak or the swamp chestnut oak, with the former otherwise called Q. montana or the latter otherwise called Q. michauxii. The application of the name Q. montana to the chestnut oak is now accepted, since Q. prinus is of uncertain position, unassignable to either species. [7] [8] [9] [10]

The Latin specific epithet montana refers to mountains or coming from mountains which probably refers to the tree's habitat and its ability to grow on rocks. [11]

Ecology

Chestnut oak growing on rock Chestnut oak rock.jpg
Chestnut oak growing on rock

This species is a predominant ridge-top tree in eastern North American hardwood forests. Young chestnut oaks are easily capable of reproducing from stump sprouts if cut. A significant amount of chestnut oaks in the Appalachians are trees that regrew from stump sprouts after being logged. It is a long-lived tree, with high-quality timber when well-formed. The acorns of the chestnut oak are a valuable wildlife food. [12]

Q. montana trees mast or produce more acorns under warmer summer temperatures rather than cooler summer temperatures. The results of a "thin and burn treatment" proved that increased light and resources correlated with a greater acorn yield. [13]

Uses

Chestnut oak trees are generally not the best timber trees because they are usually branched low and not very straight, but when they grow in better conditions, they are valuable for timber, which is marketed as 'mixed white oak'. The bark of chestnut oak has a high tannin content and prior to the 20th century was heavily used in the leather tanning industry, but the wood was usually discarded since it was considered inferior to that of Q. alba. By the late 19th century, as the population of mature white oaks in the eastern US was dwindling, loggers began exploiting chestnut oak wood more heavily. It serves many of the same applications as white oak wood and as it is fairly rot-proof, has also been used for fencing, railroad ties, and other uses where the wood comes into contact with soil. Due to a relatively high density (21 kg or 47 lb per cu. ft), chestnut oak makes excellent firewood.

The acorns can be eaten by humans but, if bitter, may need to have the tannins leached. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>Quercus muehlenbergii</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus velutina</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus bicolor</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus suber</i> Species of plant

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<i>Quercus macrocarpa</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus macrocarpa, the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, Quercus sect. Quercus, and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oak. The acorns are the largest of any North American oak, and are important food for wildlife.

<i>Quercus michauxii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus michauxii, the swamp chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section Quercus section Quercus in the beech family. It is native to bottomlands and wetlands in the southeastern and midwestern United States, in coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland primarily in the Mississippi–Ohio Valley as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.

<i>Quercus stellata</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus stellata, the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, tops of ridges, and also grows in poor soils, and is resistant to rot, fire, and drought. Interbreeding occurs among white oaks, thus many hybrid species combinations occur. It is identifiable by the rounded cross-like shape formed by the leaf lobes and hairy underside of the leaves.

<i>Quercus pubescens</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus pubescens, commonly known as the downy oak, pubescent oak or Italian oak, is a species of white oak native to southern Europe and southwest Asia. It is found from northern Spain (Pyrenees) and France in the West to Turkey and the Caucasus in the East.

<i>Quercus coccinea</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus imbricaria</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus lyrata</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus lyrata, the overcup oak, is an oak in the white oak group. The common name, overcup oak, refers to its acorns that are mostly enclosed within the acorn cup. It is native to lowland wetlands in the eastern and south-central United States, in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois. There are historical reports of it growing in Iowa, but the species appears to have been extirpated there. It is a slow-growing tree that often takes 25 to 30 years to mature. It has an estimated lifespan of 400 years.

<i>Castanea pumila</i> Species of tree

Castanea pumila, commonly known as the Allegheny chinquapin, American chinquapin or dwarf chestnut, is a species of chestnut native to the southeastern United States. The native range is from Massachusetts and New York to Maryland and extreme southern New Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania south to central Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north to southern Missouri and Kentucky. The plant's habitat is dry sandy and rocky uplands and ridges mixed with oak and hickory to 1000 m elevation. It grows best on well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade.

<i>Quercus prinoides</i> Species of plant

Quercus prinoides, commonly known as dwarf chinkapin oak, dwarf chinquapin oak, dwarf chestnut oak or scrub chestnut oak, is a shrubby, clone-forming oak native to central-eastern North America.

<i>Quercus hemisphaerica</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus pagoda</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus hypoleucoides</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus hypoleucoides, the silverleaf oak or the whiteleaf oak, is a North American species of oak tree or shrub. It grows in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

References

  1. L., Wenzell, K. & Jerome, D. 2017. Quercus montana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T194201A111265611. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T194201A111265611.en. Downloaded on 05 April 2021.
  2. "Quercus montana". Tropicos . Missouri Botanical Garden.
  3. "Quercus montana". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
  4. The Natural Communities of Virginia Classification of Ecological Community Groups (Version 2.3), Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2010 Archived January 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Schafale, M. P. and A. S. Weakley. 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina: third approximation. North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation.
  6. Keeler, Harriet L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp.  338–344.
  7. 1 2 Nixon, Kevin C. (1997). "Quercus montana". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 3. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. "Quercus prinus L." Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  9. "Quercus montana Willd". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  10. The confusion arose from differing identifications of the type specimens for the Linnaean name, by some (but not all) botanists considered resolved by close examination of the leaf pubescence, which differs in the two species.
  11. Archibald William Smith A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names: Their Meanings and Origins , p. 239, at Google Books
  12. "Quercus montana". www.museum.state.il.us. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
  13. Smith, S. J., McCarthy, B. C., Hutchinson, T. F., & Snell, R. S. (2021). Both weather and resources influence masting in chestnut oak (Quercus montana Willd.) and black oak (Q. velutina Lam.). Plant Ecology, 222, 409-420.
  14. Elias, Thomas S.; Dykeman, Peter A. (2009) [1982]. Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods. New York: Sterling. pp. 228, 231. ISBN   978-1-4027-6715-9. OCLC   244766414.