Chestnut Oak

Author: Bobby Chappell
E-mail Address bobchap@athens.net

HIGHER TAXON

Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Leucobalanus
Species: prinus
Common names:

Chestnut oak
Rock chestnut oak
Rock oak

Identification Key

Leaf

4 - 8 inches long and 1.5 - 4 inches wide. The shape is obovate to elliptical, broadest beyond the middle. The edges of the leaf are wavy with 10 to 16 rounded unbristled teeth on each side. The top of the leaf is shiny green and the bottom is a dull gray green. It turns yellow in the fall.

Bark

The bark is brownish gray to nearly black. It becomes deeply and coursely furrowed in older trees.

Fruit

The fruit of the chestnut oak is .75 - 1.25 inch acron. It is egg-shaped and is 1/3 enclosed by a deep thin cap. It is composed of short, worty, hairy scales that do not overlap. Being a white oak, the fruit matures in one season and germinates in the fall.

Twigs

The twigs are an orange to reddish brown color. The terminal buds are 1/4 inch long.

Habitat

Climate The average annual precipitation ranges from 35 to 55 inches a year. Temperatures of the range of the chestnut vary from -20 degrees F in the north to 100 degrees F in the south and lower elevations.
Soils and Topography The chestnut oak grows best in well drained coves and bottomlands. Although it does not reach its maximum growth on dry, rocky upland sites, it does better than any of the other oaks.

Reproduction to Maturity

A main distinction of the subgenra leucobalanus or white oaks , is the fruit matures in one season and germinates in the fall. Seed bearing does not begin until the tree is about 25 years old. Q.prinus can live to be over 100 years old so it has plenty of time to reproduce. The chestnut oak yields the highest amount of sound acorns than any other oak. The acorn will do best if it has a litter layer of 1 inch with some shade.
Q. prinus will grow to about 60 to 80 feet tall with a diameter of 20 to 30 inches. The chestnut oak took over the sites the great American chestnut once held before the blight wiped it out. Q. prinus will never grow to the size of the Am. chestnut and it will not make up for the forest that was in this area before the settlers, but it has helped to fill in the stands of the that mighty tree, the American chestnut.

Dangers Q. prinus can get oak wilt, but it is more rare for a white to get it than a red oak. Many decay fungi attack the chestnut oak. Things like string rot, sulpher rot and hedgehog fungus. Chestnut oak is somewhat resistant to heart and sapwood decay fungi. It is also resistant to borers except after fire. Fire is frequent in the stands where Q. prinus grows. June beetles are known to defoliate the tree. The nut of the chestnut oak is large ands is favorite of deer and squirrels.

Range

Quercus prinus
AREA	STATUS	REFERENCES
North America: Continental United States; Canada	Yes	National Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Eastern United States: United States east of Mississippi River; Ontario and Eastern Canada	Yes	National Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Southeastern United States: AL, AR, DE, DC, FL, GA, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV	Yes	National Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Southern Appalachian States: AL, GA, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV	Yes	National Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995

Coastal Plain	Widespread	National Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Piedmont	Yes	Bobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.
Blue Ridge Mountians	Yes	Naitonal Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Great Smokey Mountians National Park	Yes	A Natural History Guide, G.S.M.N.P. , 1993
Ridge and Valley	Yes	National Audubon Society Field Guide,1995
Cumberland Plateau	Yes	National Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Central Arch	Widespread	National Audubon Society Field Guide,1995

Georgia	Yes	Bobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.
Oconee County, Georgia	Yes	Bobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.
Sams Farm	?	-

References

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees, Eastern Region, Elbert L. Little, Chanticleer Press Inc., 1995

Textbook of Dendrology, William Harlow, Ellwood Harrar, James Hardin, Fred White,
McGraw - Hill, Inc., 1996

A Field Guide to the Trees and Schrubs of the Southern Appalachians, Robert E. Swanson,
The John Hopkins University Press, 1994

A Natural History Guide, G.S.M.N.P., Rose Houk,
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993

Silvics of Forest Trees of the United States, H.A. Fowells,
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965

Photographs by Claud Brown, Professor , School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia