Dwarf chinquapin oak

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Dwarf chinquapin oak buds

Dwarf chinquapin oak fruit

Dwarf chinquapin oak habit

Dwarf chinquapin oak

Dwarf chinquapin oak fruit

Dwarf chinquapin oak leaf

Dwarf chinquapin oak leaves

Morphology

Trunk

Ascending to erect; bark gray, furrows shallow, ridges flat, broad, plate-like; wood yellowish white, hard.

Twigs

Reddish brown, rigid, sparsely pubescent or glabrate; leaf scars half-round; buds reddish brown to grayish brown, ovoid to globose, .04 to .12 inch, apex obtuse, scales sparsely pubescent.

Leaves

Deciduous, alternate, simple; petiole .3 to .6 inch, pubescent; blade obovate to oblanceolate or lanceolate in outline, 1.6 to 5.6 inches long, .8 to 2.4 inches wide, base cuneate to tapered, margins sinuate to undulate, 4-8-toothed per side, teeth usually acute, sometimes rounded, mostly strongly forward projecting, terminal lobes absent, sinuses extending 1/10 to 2/10 distance to midrib, not bristle-tipped, lower surface light green, densely hairy with appressed-stellate hairs, upper surface shiny dark green, glabrate.

Flowers

Inflorescences staminate catkins at base of new growth, 25-30-flowered, pendent, 1.2 to 2.8 inches; peduncle .2 to .8 inch; pedicels absent; pistillate spikes axillary from new growth, 1-4-flowered; peduncle 0 to .4 inch; pedicels absent. Flowers unisexual, more or less radially symmetric; staminate flowers: sepals 2-6, connate, calyx lobes .04 to .06 inch; petals absent; stamens 4-6; pistillate flowers: sepals 6, connate, calyx fused to ovary; petals absent; pistil 1; styles 3.

Fruit

September-October; acorns, 1-2, maturing first year; peduncle elongating to .04 to .5 inch; cup top-shaped, .35 to .5 inch long, .52 to .8 inch wide, enclosing 1/4 to 1/3 of nut, scale apices closely appressed; nut brown, ovoid, .6 to .8 inch long, .52 to .6 inch, minutely pubescent; attachment scar .24 to .28 inch diam.; seed 1.

Ecology

Habitat

Edges of woodlands and forests, bluffs, usually on sandy or clayey soils.

Distribution

Principally east 1/2 of Kansas

Additional Notes