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 michauxii
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.
The leaves of Swamp Chestnut or Basket Oak are much wider above the midline and they have lots of rounded teeth along their margin. The leaves closely resemble Rock Chestnut Oak (Q. montana). The key difference between them, though, is that Swamp Chestnut Oak has proportionally wider leaves. It also differs in habitat and distribution range from the Rock Chestnut Oak. Read more at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus michauxii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus michauxii
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-007:
Quercus michauxii FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (MISAPPLIED & A SOURCE OF CONFUSION) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus prinus
COMMON NAME:
Swamp Chestnut Oak, Basket Oak
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_336
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_qumi_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_qumi_004_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm090221_052
February Richland County SC
Congaree National Park
Leaves mostly obovate, w rounded teeth, hairs of leaf undersurface in clusters, per Weakley's Flora.
COMPARE
leaves of Chestnut Oaks and Chinquapin Oaks
)
JK Marlow jkm090221_053
February Richland County SC
Congaree National Park
Bark thick, light gray, with scaly plates, similar to that of white oak, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_michauxii_leaves
September
Leaves generally broader relative to length than those of Chestnut Oak, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus michauxii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus michauxii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus michauxii
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-007:
Quercus michauxii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (MISAPPLIED & A SOURCE OF CONFUSION)
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus prinus
1191
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Bottomland forests, especially in fertile soils of upper terraces where flooded only infrequently and for short periods, upland depression ponds, sometimes on moist lower slopes, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (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 Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p048
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p310
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p314
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p205
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p060
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p182
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p279
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p274
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