Quercus macrocarpa Michx.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Fagaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Quercus macrocarpa Michx.

  • Description

    Species Description - Low shrub to tall tree, the latter with rough, deeply furrowed bark; lvs large, oblong to obovate, cuneate at base, pale beneath with a close, fine stellate pubescence, with 4–7 pairs of blunt or acute lateral lobes, a pair of sinuses near the middle usually deeper than the others; winter- buds pubescent; fr sessile or stoutly short-peduncled, the cup covering a third to more often two-thirds or even all the nut, pubescent within, the marginal scales acuminate into slender awns forming a terminal fringe; nut depressed-ovoid to narrowly ovoid, 1–4 cm thick. Var. macrocarpa, a tree to 50 m, occurs in moist woods and alluvial flood-plains from N.B. and Que. to Ont. and s. Man., s. to Va., La., and Tex. Var. depressa (Nutt.) Engelm. (Q. mandanensis), a shrub to 5 m, with acorns of minimal size that have a relatively short marginal fringe, occurs on dry uplands and bluffs from w. Minn. and Io. to Sask., Mont., and Wyo.

  • Common Names

    bur oak