Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fagales
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus
Section: Quercus (white oaks)
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read Edible Wild Plants: Oak from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina website.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus muhlenbergii
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-009:
Quercus muehlenbergii FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Quercus prinoides var. acuminata
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus muhlenbergii
COMMON NAME:
Chinquapin Oak, Yellow Chestnut Oak, Yellow Oak
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_339
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_qumu_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm080330_031
March Anderson County SC
Clemson Forest
Male flowers in slender naked drooping catkins, the pollen wind-blown, per Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_muehlenb_leaves
September
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_muehlengergii_bark
September
)
JK Marlow jkm071018_005
October Anderson County SC
Clemson Forest
Bark is gray and scaly, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_muehlenbergii_1
October
Flaky, light gray bark is very different from the dark gray, deeply furrowed bark of Q. montana, per Weakley's Flora (2022).
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JK Marlow s051031_a
October Pickens County SC
Clemson University
)
JK Marlow s051114_a
November Pickens County SC
Clemson University
Leaves toothed similarly to Q. montana, but sharp pointed & callous-tipped, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
COMPARE
leaves of Chestnut Oaks and Chinquapin Oaks
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus muhlenbergii
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-009:
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Quercus prinoides var. acuminata
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus muhlenbergii
1192
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Slopes and bluffs, on soils derived from calcareous or mafic rocks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Uncommon (rare in SC Coastal Plain)
Click here to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate, 5-ranked
FLOWER:
Spring
Unisexual
Staminate calyx 2-8 lobed, pistillate calyx 6-lobed
Petals absent
3-12 stamens in staminate flowers
Staminate flowers in clustered drooping catkins
FRUIT:
Fall
Acorn
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p048
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p310
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p306
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p205
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p068
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p184
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p281
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p22
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p274