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Northeast Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Chestnut Oak
Quercus prinus L.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Beech (Fagaceae)
Flowering: May-June
Field Marks: This species is distinguished by its coarsely rounded, toothed, unlobed leaves and its sessile or nearly sessile acorns with the cup not more than 1 1/4 inches across.
Habitat: Rocky woods.
Habit: Tree to 90 feet tall, with a trunk diameter up to 2 1/2 feet; crown broad but irregular; bark dark brown, with conspicuous furrows between the rounded ridges.
Twigs: Rather stout, reddish brown, smooth or nearly so; leaf scars alternate, but clustered near the tip of the twig, half-round, with several bundle traces; buds brown, pointed at the tip, somewhat hairy, up to 1/2 inch long.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, obovate to broadly lanceolate, pointed at the tip, narrowed to the base, thick and leathery, coarsely round-toothed, smooth, shiny, and yellow-green on the upper surface, finely hairy over all the lower surface, up to 9 inches long, up to 4 inches wide; leaf stalk up to 1 inch long, smooth or slightly hairy.
Flowers: Male and female borne separately but on the same tree, after the leaves are partly grown, the male crowded into long, slender, drooping spikes, the female few in a group.
Sepals: 0.
Petals: 0.
Stamens: 1.
Pistils: Ovary inferior.
Fruits: Acorns solitary or 2 together, sessile or nearly so, the nut ovoid to ellipsoid, chestnut-colored, up to 1 1/2 inches long, the cup covering about 1/2 the nut or less, the scales of the cup reddish brown and warty.
Notes: The wood is used for fence posts, railroad ties, and fuel. The bark is used in tanning.

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URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florane/species/5/querprin.htm
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Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:39:25 EDT
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]