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 stellata
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.
Post Oak is a member of the white oak group, so notice its rounded lobes that lack bristles. Post Oaks have 5 lobes that form a Maltese Cross shape. The leaves also have a leathery texture. Read more at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus stellata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus stellata
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-002:
Quercus stellata FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Quercus stellata var. stellata
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus stellata
COMMON NAME:
Post 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_p28a
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JK Marlow jkm191222_2370_q_stellata
Clay County AL
Cheaha State Park
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Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_325
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_qust_001_lvd
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_qust_003_lvd
)
Alan S. Weakley asw_3249580405353827
January
Tree occasionally 70-80' tall, usually with large, crooked gnarled branches, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_stellata_18
February
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JK Marlow jkm090318_007
March Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm160331_011c
March Laurens County SC
Staminate flowers in pendulous catkins near base of current year's twig, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
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JK Marlow jkm160331_015
March Laurens County SC
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Alan S. Weakley asw_572739461408320
May Granville County NC
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Alan S. Weakley asw_773920957452325
May Cumberland County NC
Carvers Creek State Park
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Alan S. Weakley asw_10231836660635508
June
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_stellata_al_4
July AL
)
Alan S. Weakley asw_10232180003018853
August
)
Alan S. Weakley asw_10232180003098855
August
)
JK Marlow jkm230901_5138
September Greenville County SC
Bald Rock Heritage Preserve
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_stellata_leaves
September
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Stephanie C. Brundage scb_102322Hayesville04ed
October Clay County NC
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Alan S. Weakley asw_10230238166994166
November Orange County NC
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_stellata_11
November
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_stellata_3
November
Acorn cup fairly thin, covering 1/3-1/2 of nut, which is 10-20mm long, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
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JK Marlow s030702_a
December Greenville County SC
Leaves usually cruciform, largest lateral lobes often sublobed or squarish, per Weakley's Flora.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus stellata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus stellata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus stellata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-002:
Quercus stellata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Quercus stellata var. stellata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus stellata
1201
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Upland forests and woodlands, especially in clay or rocky soils and in communities at least formerly exposed to fire, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon 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) p050
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p310
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p258
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p423
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p310
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p202
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p096
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p194
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p277
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p22
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p260
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p282
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