Chinquapin oak

Leaves

Form

• Narrow, tapered to both ends
• Tip narrow
• Principal veins 10–15 per side
• Straight, parallel
• Each ending in a large pointed or slightly rounded tooth
• Lower surface downy with stellate hairs having rays parallel
• to leaf surface

Length

• 10–18 cm

Colour

• Upper surface glossy green
• Lower surface pale greyish-green

Margin

• Coarsely toothed

Petiole

• Slender
• 1–3 cm long

Buds

Form

• Terminal bud ovoid
• Sharp-pointed
• Mostly hairless

Length

• 4–6 mm

Colour

• Light reddish-brown

Twigs

Form

• Slender, hairless

Colour

• Green
• Becoming greyish-brown to orange-brown with age

Flowers

Form

• Pollen flowers small
• In many-flowered drooping catkins
• Seed flowers small
• Solitary or in few-flowered clusters (spikes)

Structure

• Monoecious

Floral timing

• With the leaves

Fruits

Form

• Acorns short-stalked
• Cup deep, bowl-shaped, enclosing about one-third to one-half of the acorn
• Covered with small, hairy scales only slightly swollen
• May form an inconspicuous marginal fringe

Length

• Acorns 12–25 mm

Structure

• 1-seeded nut

Bark

Form

• Thin narrow scales

Colour

• Pale grey to whitish

Size

Height

• To 30 m
• 15 m when open-grown

Diameter

• To 60 cm
• Occasionally larger

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Usually straight
• Distinct well into the crown
• Strongly tapered with a swollen base

Crown

• Narrow, rounded
• Made up of many short branches

Habitat

Site

• Dry rocky slopes and ridges
• Limestone soils and sand dunes

Range

Uncommon in Canada
Southwestern Ontario, and southeastern Ontario near the Thousand Islands