Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Erythrobalanus
Species: velutina
Common names:
Yellow oak
Quercition oak
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.
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.
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.
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.
Quercus Velutina |
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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 |
| 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. |
Clarke County, Georgia | Yes | Bobby Chappell; Pers. Ob. |
Sams Farm | ? | - |
My Backyard | Yes | Bobby Chappell; Pers. Ob. |
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