Leaf: Alternate, simple, 5 to 9 inches long and roughly obovate in outline. Two forms are common: 3 lobes with shallow sinuses or 5 to 7 lobes with deeper sinuses. Lobes are bristle-tipped. Tomentum is present below and on the petiole. Often resembles a turkey foot.

Flower: Staminate flowers borne on catkins. Pistillate flowers borne on spikes. Appears with the leaves.

Fruit: Acorns are 1/2 inch long, orange-brown and pubescent. The cap covers less than 1/3 of the nut and is quite thin and flattened. Cap scales are appressed and slightly pubescent. Matures after two years, ripens in September or October.

Twig: Reddish-brown in color, may be gray-pubescent (particularly stump sprouts) or glabrous. Multiple terminal buds are dark red, pubescent, pointed and only 1/8 to 1/4 inch long. Laterals are similar, but shorter.

Bark: Dark in color, thick, with broad, scaly ridges separated by deep, narrow furrows. Resembles Q. velutina, but the inner bark is only slightly yellow.

Form: A medium-sized tree with a short trunk and large branches supporting a rounded crown.

Copyright (c) 2001 Santee-Wateree Resource Conservation and Development Council.
This page was last updated on October 29, 2001.

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