Quercus michauxii

Nuttall

Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 215. 1818.

Common names: Basket oak cow oak swamp chestnut oak
EndemicIllustrated
Synonyms: Quercus houstoniana C. H. Muller
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 3.

Trees, deciduous, to 20 m. Bark light brown or gray, scaly. Twigs brown or reddish brown, 2-3 mm diam., with sparse spreading hairs or glabrate. Buds reddish brown, ovoid, apex rounded or acute, glabrous or minutely puberulent. Leaves: petiole 5-20 mm. Leaf blade broadly obovate or broadly elliptic, (60-)100-280 × 50-180 mm, base rounded-acuminate or broadly cuneate, margins regularly toothed, teeth rounded, dentate, or acuminate, secondary veins 15-20 on each side, parallel, straight or somewhat curved, apex broadly rounded or acuminate; surfaces abaxially light green or yellowish, felty to touch because of conspicuous or minute, erect, 1-4-rayed hairs, adaxially glabrous or with minute simple or fascicled hairs. Acorns 1-3, subsessile or more often on axillary peduncle to 20-30 mm; cup hemispheric, broadly hemispheric or even short-cylindric, 15-25 mm deep × 25-40 mm wide, enclosing 1/2 nut or more, scales very loosely appressed, distinct to base, gray or light brown, moderately to heavily tuberculate, tips silky-tomentose; nut light brown, ovoid or cylindric, 25-35 × 20-25 mm, glabrous. Cotyledons distinct.


Phenology: Flowering early–late spring.
Habitat: Bottomlands, rich sandy woods and swamps, on variety of soils
Elevation: 0-600 m

Distribution

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Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Md., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.C., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.

Discussion

Quercus michauxii is easily distinguished from other chestnut-leaved oaks by the felty hairs of the abaxial leaf surface and rather large acorn cups with attenuate-acute, loose scales. This species is no longer extant in Oklahoma. Historical reports from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York have not been confirmed; possibly populations are no longer extant. (See Quercus montana for a discussion of nomenclature and the uncertain application of the name Q. prinus).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Quercus michauxii"
Kevin C. Nixon +  and Cornelius H. Muller +
Nuttall +
Basket oak +, cow oak +  and swamp chestnut oak +
Ala. +, Ark. +, Del. +, Fla. +, Ga. +, Ill. +, Ind. +, Ky. +, La. +, Md. +, Miss. +, Mo. +, N.J. +, N.C. +, Pa. +, S.C. +, Tenn. +, Tex. +  and Va. +
0-600 m +
Bottomlands, rich sandy woods and swamps, on variety of soils +
Flowering early–late spring. +
Gen. N. Amer. Pl. +
Endemic +  and Illustrated +
Quercus houstoniana +
Quercus michauxii +
Quercus sect. Quercus +
species +