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 muehlenbergii
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.
Chinquapin or Yellow Chestnut Oak has some resemblance to Rock Chestnut Oak, but the leaves of Chinquapin Oak have sharper teeth along the margins. Chinquapin Oak leaves are also much smaller, typically being less than 5 inches long. Read more at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus muhlenbergii
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-009:
Quercus muehlenbergii FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Quercus prinoides var. acuminata
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus muhlenbergii
COMMON NAME:
Chinquapin Oak, Yellow Chestnut Oak, Yellow 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_339
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_qumu_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm080330_031
March Anderson County SC
Clemson Forest
Male flowers in slender naked drooping catkins, the pollen wind-blown, per Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_muehlenb_leaves
September
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_muehlengergii_bark
September
)
JK Marlow jkm071018_005
October Anderson County SC
Clemson Forest
Bark is gray and scaly, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_muehlenbergii_1
October
Flaky, light gray bark is very different from the dark gray, deeply furrowed bark of Q. montana, per Weakley's Flora (2022).
)
JK Marlow s051031_a
October Pickens County SC
Clemson University
)
JK Marlow s051114_a
November Pickens County SC
Clemson University
Leaves toothed similarly to Q. montana, but sharp pointed & callous-tipped, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
COMPARE
leaves of Chestnut Oaks and Chinquapin Oaks
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus muhlenbergii
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-009:
Quercus muehlenbergii
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Quercus prinoides var. acuminata
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus muhlenbergii
1192
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Slopes and bluffs, on soils derived from calcareous or mafic rocks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Uncommon (rare in SC Coastal Plain)
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:
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) p306
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p205
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p068
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p184
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p281
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p22
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p274
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