Quercus muehlenbergii | |
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Scientific classification | |
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. muehlenbergii |
Binomial name | |
Quercus muehlenbergii | |
Natural range | |
Synonyms [2] [3] | |
List
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Quercus muehlenbergii, the chinquapin (or chinkapin) oak, is a deciduous species of tree in the white oak group (Quercus sect. Quercus). The species was often called Quercus acuminata in older literature. Quercus muehlenbergii (often misspelled as muhlenbergii) is native to eastern and central North America. It ranges from Vermont to Minnesota, south to the Florida panhandle, and west to New Mexico in the United States. [5] In Canada it is only found in southern Ontario, and in Mexico it ranges from Coahuila south to Hidalgo. [4]
Chinquapin oak is monoecious in flowering habit; flowers emerge in April to late May or early June. The staminate flowers are borne in catkins that develop from the leaf axils of the previous year, and the pistillate flowers develop from the axils of the current year's leaves. The fruit, an acorn or nut, is borne singly or in pairs, matures in one year, and ripens in September or October. About half of the acorn is enclosed in a thin cup and is chestnut brown to nearly black. [4]
Chinquapin oak is closely related to the smaller but generally similar dwarf chinquapin oak (Quercus prinoides). Chinquapin oak is usually a tree, but occasionally shrubby, while dwarf chinquapin oak is a low-growing, clone-forming shrub. The two species generally occur in different habitats: chinquapin oak is typically found on calcareous soils and rocky slopes, while dwarf chinquapin oak is usually found on acidic substrates, primarily sand or sandy soils, and also dry shales. [4] [6]
Chinquapin oak is also sometimes confused with the related chestnut oak (Quercus montana), which it closely resembles. However, unlike the pointed teeth on the leaves of the chinquapin oak, chestnut oak leaves generally have rounded teeth. The two species have contrasting kinds of bark: chinquapin oak has a gray, flaky bark very similar to that of white oak (Q. alba) but with a more yellow-brown cast to it (hence the occasional name yellow oak for this species), while chestnut oak has dark, solid, deeply ridged bark. The chinquapin oak also has smaller acorns than the chestnut oak or another similar species, the swamp chestnut oak (Q. michauxii), which have some of the largest acorns of any oaks. [4]
Key characteristics of Quercus muehlenbergii include: [7]
Q. muehlenbergii is generally regarded as a distinct species from the similar-appearing chestnut oak (Q. montana). The tree's scientific name honors Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753–1815), a Lutheran pastor and amateur botanist in Pennsylvania. In publishing the name Quercus mühlenbergii, German-American botanist George Engelmann mistakenly used an umlaut in spelling Muhlenberg's name, even though Pennsylvania-born Muhlenberg himself did not use an umlaut in his name. Under the modern rules of botanical nomenclature, umlauts are transliterated, with ü becoming ue, hence Engelmann's Quercus mühlenbergii is now presented as Quercus muehlenbergii. In lack of evidence that Engelmann's use of the umlaut was an unintended error, and hence correctable, the muehlenbergii spelling is considered correct, although the more appropriate orthographic variant Quercus muhlenbergii is often seen. [8] [9]
The low-growing, cloning Q. prinoides (dwarf chinquapin oak) is similar to Q. muehlenbergii and has been confused with it in the past, but is now generally accepted as a distinct species. [6] If the two are considered to be conspecific, the earlier-published name Quercus prinoides has priority over Q. muehlenbergii, and the larger chinquapin oak can then be classified as Quercus prinoides var. acuminata, with the dwarf chinquapin oak being Quercus prinoides var. prinoides. Q. prinoides was named and described by the German botanist Karl (Carl) Ludwig Willdenow in 1801, in a German journal article by Muhlenberg. [4]
Chinquapin oak is generally found on well-drained upland soils derived from limestone or where limestone outcrops occur. Occasionally it is found on well-drained limestone soils along streams. Chinquapin oak is generally found on soils that are weakly acid (pH about 6.5) to alkaline (above pH 7.0). It grows on both northerly and southerly aspects but is more common on the warmer southerly aspects. It is absent or rare at high elevations in the Appalachians. [10] [11]
It is rarely a predominant tree, but it grows in association with many other species. It is a component of the forest cover type White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Society of American Foresters Type 52) and the Post Oak-Blackjack Oak (Type 40) (2).
It grows in association with white oak (Quercus alba), black oak ( Q. velutina ), northern red oak ( Q. rubra ), scarlet oak ( Q. coccinea ), sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ), red maple ( A. rubrum ), hickories ( Carya spp.), black cherry ( Prunus serotina ), cucumbertree ( Magnolia acuminata ), white ash ( Fraxinus americana ), American basswood ( Tilia americana ), black walnut ( Juglans nigra ), butternut ( J. cinerea ), and yellow-poplar ( Liriodendron tulipifera ). American beech ( Fagus grandifolia ), shortleaf pine ( Pinus echinata ), pitch pine ( P. rigida ), Virginia pine ( P. virginiana ), Ozark chinquapin ( Castanea ozarkensis ), eastern red cedar ( Juniperus virginiana ), bluejack oak ( Quercus incana ), southern red oak ( Q. falcata ), blackgum ( Nyssa sylvatica ), and winged elm ( Ulmus alata ) also grow in association with chinquapin oak. In the Missouri Ozarks a redcedar-chinquapin oak association has been described. [12]
The most common small tree and shrub species found in association with chinquapin oak include flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sassafras ( Sassafras albidum ), sourwood ( Oxydendrum arboreum ), eastern hophornbeam ( Ostrya virginiana ), Vaccinium spp., Viburnum spp., hawthorns (Crataegus spp.), and sumacs ( Rhus spp.). The most common woody vines are wild grape ( Vitis spp.) and greenbrier (Smilax spp.).[ citation needed ]
Chinquapin oak is classified as intolerant of shade. It withstands moderate shading when young but becomes more intolerant of shade with age. It is regarded as a climax species on dry, drought prone soils, especially those of limestone origin. On more moist sites it is subclimax to climax. It is often found as a component of the climax vegetation in stands on mesic sites with limestone soils. However, many oak-hickory stands on moist sites that contain chinquapin oak are succeeded by a climax forest including beech, maple, and ash. [13]
Severe wildfire kills chinquapin oak saplings and small pole-size trees, but these often resprout. However, fire scars serve as entry points for decay-causing fungi, and the resulting decay can cause serious losses.[ citation needed ]
Oak wilt (Bretziella fagacearum), a vascular disease, attacks chinquapin oak and usually kills the tree within two to four years. Other diseases that attack chinquapin oak include the cankers Strumella coryneoidea and Nectria galligena, shoestring root rot (Armillarea mellea), anthracnose (Gnomonia veneta), and leaf blister (Taphrina spp.).[ citation needed ]
The most serious defoliating insects that attack chinquapin oak are the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), the orangestriped oakworm (Anisota senatoria), and the variable oakleaf caterpillar (Heterocampa manteo). Insects that bore into the bole and seriously degrade the products cut from infested trees include the carpenterworm (Prionoyxstus robiniae), little carpenterworm (P. macmurtrei), white oak borer (Goes tigrinus), Columbian timber beetle (Corthylus columbianus), oak timberworm (Arrhenodes minutus), and twolined chestnut borer (Agrilus bilineatus). The acorn weevils (Curculio spp.), larvae of moths (Valentinia glandulella and Melissopus latiferreanus), and gall forming cynipids (Callirhytis spp.) feed on the acorns.[ citation needed ]
Like that of other white oak species, the wood of the chinquapin oak is a durable hardwood prized for many types of construction. [14]
The chinquapin oak is especially known for its sweet and palatable acorns. The nuts contained inside of the thin shell are among the sweetest of any oak, with an excellent taste even when eaten raw, providing an excellent source of food for both wildlife and people. The acorns are eaten by squirrels, mice, voles, chipmunks, deer, turkey, and other birds. [15] [16]
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.
Quercus velutina, the black oak, is a species of oak in the red oak group, native and widespread in eastern and central North America. It is sometimes called the eastern black oak.
Quercus bicolor, the swamp white oak, is a North American species of medium-sized trees in the beech family. It is a common element of America's north central and northeastern mixed forests. It can survive in a variety of habitats. It forms hybrids with bur oak where they occur together in the wild.
Quercus virginiana, also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South. Many very large and old specimens of live oak can be found today in the Deep South region of the United States.
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.
Quercus coccinea, the scarlet oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak section Lobatae of the genus Quercus, in the family Fagaceae.
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.
The Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests is an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It consists of mesophytic plants west of the Appalachian Mountains in the Southeastern United States.
The Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests are an ecoregion in the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome, in the Eastern United States. The ecoregion is located in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains, including the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It covers an area of about 61,500 square miles (159,000 km2) in: northeast Alabama and Georgia, northwest South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and central West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and small extensions into Kentucky, New Jersey, and New York.
Chinquapin or chinkapin may refer to:
Spitler Woods State Natural Area is a 202.5-acre (81.9 ha) state park located adjacent to Mount Zion, Illinois. The state park is located within the Decatur, Illinois metropolitan area. The eastern two-thirds of the state park is a listed state natural area noted for its old-growth forest grove of white oak and hickory. The park is managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).
Quercus dumosa is a species of plant in the family Fagaceae, belonging to the white oak section of the oak genus (Quercus). This tree goes by the common names coastal sage scrub oak and Nuttall's scrub oak.
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.
Quercus geminata, commonly called sand live oak, is an evergreen oak tree native to the coastal regions of the subtropical southeastern United States, along the Atlantic Coast from southern Florida northward to southeastern Virginia and along the Gulf Coast westward to southern Mississippi, on seacoast dunes and on white sands in evergreen oak scrubs.
The Interior Low Plateaus are a physiographic region in eastern United States. It consists of a diverse landscape that extends from north Alabama across central Tennessee and Kentucky into southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Its natural communities are a matrix of temperate forests, woodlands, and prairies.
Quercus × deamii, known as Deam's oak, is a naturally occurring hybrid of chinquapin oak and burr oak. It occurs sporadically where their ranges overlap in the eastern United States and eastern Canada. It is named for self-taught botanist and state forester of Indiana Charles C. Deam, who had forwarded samples to William Trelease for description. They thought it to be a cross of Quercus alba and Q. muehlenbergii due to the large numbers of those trees growing in the vicinity. Many sources still reference Q. × deamii as a hybrid of the white oak and chinkapin oak.
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