Common Trees of the North Carolina Piedmont

Stephen M. Seiberling, Alan S. Weakley, and Peter S. White


Quercus montana Willd. Chestnut oak, mountain chestnut oak, rock chestnut oak. Synonyms Quercus prinus L. Family Fagaceae. ITIS Taxonomic Serial Number 19379. USDA PLANTS Symbol QUPR2. TROPICOS # 13100105.

Images • Branchlet with leaves. • Individual leaf. • Branchlet with buds. • Close-up of buds. • Herbarium sheet 1. • Herbarium sheet 2. • Herbarium sheet 3. • Herbarium sheet 4. • Herbarium sheet 5. • Herbarium sheet 6. • Herbarium sheet 7.

Detailed Description:

Plant habit and life style. Plants Angiosperms, monoecious, (5–)15–30(–45) m tall.

Stems. Pith continuous. Young twigs (1-year-old or less) brown or green or orange or reddish-brown, 2–3(–4) mm wide, glabrous or glabrate or pubescent, pilose. Twigs (2–4 years old) glabrous. Leaf scars half-round, bundle scars numerous, stipule scars inconspicuous, stipule scars not circumferential. Bark of mature trunks flaky or furrowed or ridged.

Buds. Buds axillary or terminal, bud clusters at ends of twigs present, brown or reddish-brown, (3–)4–6(–13) mm long, conic or ovoid, sharp, glabrous or glabrate or pubescent, ciliate or pilose, bud scales imbricate.

Leaves. Leaves deciduous, simple, petiolate, alternate or spiral, (10–)12–20(–30) cm long, (4–)6–10(–12) cm wide, elliptic or lanceolate or oblong or obovate or oval or ovate, leaf margins crenate or dentate or serrate or sinuate, unlobed or shallowly lobed, pinnately lobed, leaf apices acuminate or acute or rounded, leaf bases cordate or cuneate or oblique or obtuse or rounded. Leaf upper surface green or yellow-green, glabrous or glabrate. Leaf lower surface gray or green or yellow-green, glabrate or pubescent, puberulent or stellate. Leaf venation pinnate, secondary veins on either side of the midvein (9–)10–14(–16). Petioles (0.3–)1–3 cm long. Stipules present, caducous, not circumferential.

Flowers. Flowering April or May or June. Inflorescences axillary, catkins or flowers solitary or spikes, flowers sessile. Flowers unisexual, epigynous. Perianth. Calyx radially symmetric, synsepalous. Sepals 6–7(–9) per flower, yellow, sepal apices acute, pubescent, pilose, caducous. Corolla absent. Androecium. Stamens (2–)6(–12) per flower, separate. Gynoecium. Ovaries inferior, pistils 1 per flower. Gynoecium syncarpous, 3 carpels per flower, styles 3 per pistil, placentation axile. Other floral features. Hypanthia present, involucres present.

Fruits. Fruits accessory fruits or acorns or nuts, 2–3.5(–3.8) cm long, brown or reddish-brown, fruit maturation 1 years.

Habitat. Habitat dry-mesic upland forests or mixed forest edges.

Special Diagnostic Characters. Staminate flowers in pendent catkins, pistillate flowers solitary or in few- to many-flowered spikes; pistillate flowers enclosed by a scaly involucre which develops into the acorn cup.


Cite this publication as: ‘Stephen M. Seiberling, Alan S. Weakley, and Peter S. White (2005 onwards). Common Trees of the North Carolina Piedmont: Identification, Descriptions, Illustrations, and Glossary. Version: March 7, 2006. <http://www.ibiblio.org/openkey/intkey/>’.

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