Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Shingle oak

(Quercus imbricaria)

galery
en

Description

Quercus imbricaria, the shingle oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native primarily to the Midwestern and Upper South regions of North America, from southern New York west to northern Illinois and eastern Kansas, and south to central Alabama and Arkansas. It is most commonly found growing in uplands with good drainage, less often along lowland streams, at 100–700 m altitude. Quercus imbricaria is a medium-sized tree growing to 20 meters (67 feet) tall, with a trunk up to 1 meter (40 inches) in diameter (rarely 1.4 meters, 56 inches). It is distinguished from most other oaks by its leaves, which are shaped like laurel leaves, 8–20 cm (4–10 inches) long and 1.5–7.5 cm (0.6–3.0 inches) broad with an untoothed margin; they are bright green above, paler and somewhat downy beneath. The fruit is an acorn, 9–18 mm long and wide with a shallow cup; they are mature about 18 months after pollination. They are an important food for squirrels and some birds. A tree usually 50–60 feet (15–18 meters) high, maximum height one hundred, with broad pyramidal head when young, becoming in old age broad-topped and open. Rare in the east, abundant in the lower Ohio Valley and middle Mississippi Valley. It reaches its largest size in southern Illinois and Indiana, although the national champion is 104' by 68' in Cincinnati, OH. Bark: Light brown, scaly; on young stems light brown, smooth. Branchlets slender, dark green and shining at first, later become light brown, finally dark brown. Wood: Pale reddish brown, sapwood lighter; heavy, hard coarse-grained, checks badly in drying; used for shingles and sometimes in construction. Sp. gr., 0.7529; weight of cu. ft., 46.92 lbs. Winter buds: Light brown, ovate, acute, one-eight inch long. Leaves: Alternate, oblong or obovate, four to six inches long, one to two inches wide, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, acute or rounded at apex, sometimes entire or with undulated margins, sometimes more or less three-lobed. They come out of the bud involute, bright red, covered with rusty down above and white tomentum below. When full grown are dark green, smooth and shining above, pale green or pale brown, downy below; midribs stout yellow, grooved above, primary veins slender. In autumn they become dark red above, pale beneath, midribs darken, then the leaf. Petioles stout, hairy, flattened, grooved. Stipules about one-half inch long, caducous.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Fagales
Family:Fagaceae
Genus:Quercus
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