Black Oak

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

HIGHER TAXON

Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Erythrobalanus
Species: velutina
Common names:

Black oak
Yellow oak
Quercition oak


Identification Key

Leaf

4 - 10 inches long and 3 - 6 inches wide. There are 7 to 9 bristled lobes on the leaf. The sinuses can deep like that of the scarlet oak but usully not as deep. The top of the leaf is a shiny green and the pubescent, or hairy below. This is the best way to distinguish it from the scarlet oak. The leaves turn dull red or brown in the fall.

Bark

The bark of the black oak is gray and smooth, becoming black and furrowed with age. Another way to distinguish the black from the scarlet is the inner bark. The inner bark of the black oak is yellow to orange, where it is not in the scarlet.

Fruit

The acrons of the black oak are 3/8 - 3/4 of an inch long. They are ellipitical and 1/2 covered by the deep, thick cup. The fruit of the this red oak matures in 2 seasons and germinates in the spring.

Twigs

The twigs are a red-brown. They are stout and glabrous, meaning without hair. The sprouts may be hairy though. The buds are pointed and angular.


Habitat

Climate The average rainfall in the range of the black oak varies from less than 30 inches a year to more than 80 inches a year in parts of the Appalachians mountians. Mean annual temperatures can differ from 45 degrees F in the north to 68 degrees F in the south to Texas. The prime conditions for the black oak is a mean annual temperature of 55 degrees F and 40 to 50 inches of precipitation a year.
Soils and Topography Black oak can be found growing from Maine south to Florida, and west into Kansas. It grows in many types of soils. It is commonly found on dry, sandy, rocky ridges. It will grow is glaciated soils, but does best in lower slopes and coves with unglaciated soils. It will grow in the Appalachain mountians to elevations of 4000 feet. The largest trees are in the valley of the Ohio river.


Reproduction to Maturity

Quercus velutina is in the subgenus of the oaks called the red oaks. Red oak acorns mature in 2 seasons. they drop from the tree in the monthes of September to december. Time of germination for them is in the spring. Best conditions for the black oak acron is in a mineral seedbed with a leaf cover throughout the winter. Black oak first grows a strong, deep tap root, making it possible to withstand drought as a sapling. the seedlings do best when the overstory is not too dense.
The black oak can reach a height of 150 feet and diameter of 4 feet. The normal size tree is 60 to 80 feet with a diameter of 2 to 3 feet. Most stands of black oaks come from stump sprouts. That is, when a tree is cut or destroyed by fire it will resprout from the trunk.

Problems The most common danger to the black oak is fire. Fires are common on the upland sites whereblack oaks grow. The nut weevil destroys more more black oak acorns than any other oak. This leads to the black oak not being able to regenerate itself like the climax trees it si associated with. In the central states a fungus caused oak wilt in Q. velutina. It is not a epidemic and spreads slowly.


Range

Quercus Velutina

AREASTATUSREFERENCES
North America:
Continental United States; Canada
YesNational Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Eastern United States:
United States east of Mississippi River;
Ontario and Eastern Canada
YesNational Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Southeastern United States:
AL, AR, DE, DC, FL, GA, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
YesNational Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Southern Appalachian States:
AL, GA, KY, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV
YesNational Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Coastal PlainWidespreadNational Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
PiedmontYesBobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.
Blue Ridge MountiansYesNaitonal Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Great Smokey Mountians National Park
YesA Natural History Guide, G.S.M.N.P. , 1993
Ridge and ValleyYesNational Audubon Society Field Guide,1995
Cumberland PlateauYesNational Audubon Society Field Guide, 1995
Central ArchWidespreadNational Audubon Society Field Guide,1995
GeorgiaYesBobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.
Clarke County, GeorgiaYesBobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.
Sams Farm?-
My BackyardYesBobby Chappell; Pers. Ob.

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