Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fagales
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus
Section: Quercus (white oaks)
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus lyrata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read Edible Wild Plants: Oak from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina website.
Overcup Oak leaves are widest above the midline and typically have 7 lobes. Some of the sinuses often have a flat bottom. The best feature to identify them may be their acorn, which has a cup that nearly encloses the entire nut. Read more at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus lyrata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus lyrata
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-005:
Quercus lyrata FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus lyrata
COMMON NAME:
Overcup Oak
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux dcp34_p29
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Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_324
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_quly_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_quly_003_lvd
)
Will Stuart wil_6989198558_8cecde7cd9
April Dorchester County SC
Francis Biedler Forest
The leaves are indeed lyre-shaped. — Will Stuart
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_lyrata_3
June
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_lyrata_acorn
September
Acorns adapted to for dispersal amid floods, the cup surrounding the nut, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_lyrata_bark
September
Bark grayish to brown, scaly or with thick scaly ridges or plates, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_lyrata_leaves
September
Leaf lobes with acute apices; sinuses often both broad and "flat-bottomed", per Weakley's Flora (2012).
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JK Marlow jkm181119_5944
November McCormick County SC
Parks Mill
)
JK Marlow jkm181119_5945
November McCormick County SC
Parks Mill
Of southeastern oaks, Q. lyrata tolerates the wettest habitats (in depth & duration of flooding), per Weakley's Flora (2022).
)
JK Marlow jkm181119_5946
November McCormick County SC
Parks Mill
)
JK Marlow jkm181119_5948
November McCormick County SC
Parks Mill
)
JK Marlow jkm181119_5964
November McCormick County SC
Parks Mill
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus lyrata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus lyrata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus lyrata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-005:
Quercus lyrata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus lyrata
1189
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Seasonally rather deeply and frequently flooded soils of floodplains of the Coastal Plain, less commonly in seasonally flooded swamps in Triassic basins in the lower Piedmont, and rarely in upland depression swamps of the Piedmont (developed over clays weathered from mafic rocks) and Coastal Plain, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Coastal Plain (uncommon in Piedmont, rare in Mountains)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate, 5-ranked
FLOWER:
Spring
Staminate calyx 2-8 lobed, pistillate calyx 6-lobed
Petals absent
3-12 stamens in staminate flowers
Unisexual
Staminate flowers in clustered drooping catkins
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Acorn
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p309
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p308
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p204
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p052
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p178
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p278
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p272
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