Water oak

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Water oak
Quercus nigra Habitus.jpg

Water oak ( Quercus nigra )

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Beech-like (Fagales)
Family : Beech family (Fagaceae)
Subfamily : Quercoideae
Genre : Oak trees ( Quercus )
Type : Water oak
Scientific name
Quercus nigra
L.

The water oak ( Quercus nigra ) is a plant from the genus of oak ( Quercus ) within the family of the Fagaceae (Fagaceae). The natural range is in the eastern to central USA . Their common English names are water oak or possum oak.

description

illustration

Appearance, bark, wood, terminal bud and leaf

The water oak grows as a deciduous to semi-evergreen, fast-growing tree with heights of 23 to 25 meters with trunk diameters of 0.6 to 1.0 meters. The bark is dark gray. The tree trunk has a columnar shape. The wood is hard and heavy. The bark of the branches is dark brown and smooth. The terminal bud is brown, egg-shaped and tomentose.

The leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The bald petiole is about 0.5 inches long. The leaf blade with a length of 4 to 13 centimeters and a width of 2 to 5 centimeters is shaped very differently but always with a wedge-shaped blade base. Sometimes the leaf blade is simple, sometimes two- to three-lobed in the upper area, with the leaf lobes always wider than the base of the blade. The leaves don't fall off until late in winter.

Drooping inflorescences
Leaves and fruits

Inflorescence and fruit

The water oak has pendulous, cat-shaped inflorescences about 5 to 8 centimeters long . The acorns standing singly or in pairs are spherical with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 centimeters. The acorns are blackish in color with pale stripes.

Distribution in North America according to USGS

Occurrence

The distribution area of Quercus nigra is in the eastern to central USA . Locations are given for the US states of New Jersey, southeast Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas. The water oak occurs at altitudes from 0 to 450 meters in damp lowlands and the adjacent areas.

use

The water oak is rarely used. However, it is used as firewood and for the production of charcoal . The water oak is used in the southern states as a shade tree that can be easily planted and transplanted on streets and parks. This beautiful, fast-growing shade tree thrives in damp soil , but is not particularly long-lived. Quercus nigra thrives in USDA climate zone 6, so it can be cultivated in large parts of the temperate to subtropical areas. Young specimens need winter protection in severe frosts.

Systematics

Quercus nigra was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum , 2, p. 995. Synonyms Quercus nigra L. are, for example, Quercus aquatica (Lam.) Walt. , Quercus hemisphaerica var. Nana (Willd.) Coffin. , Quercus microcarya Small , Quercus nana Willd. , Quercus nigra var. Aquatica Lam. , Quercus nigra f. microcarya (Small) coffin. , Quercus nigra var. Tridentifera coffin. , Quercus nigra var. Heterophylla (Ait.) Ashe and Quercus uliginosa Wangenh.

Quercus nigra belongs to the section of the red oak (Lobatae) from the subgenus Quercus in the genus of the oaks ( Quercus ).

Quercus nigra forms hybrids with: Quercus falcata (= Quercus × garlandensis E.J. Palmer ), Quercus laevis (= Quercus × walteriana Ashe ), Quercus marilandica (= Quercus × sterilis Trel. ), Quercus phellos (= Quercus × capesii W.Wolf ), Quercus shumardii (= Quercus × neopalmeri Sudw. ) And Quercus velutina (= Quercus × demarei Ashe ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Klaus Ulrich Leistikow: The Woodbook: The Complete Plates . TASCHEN Verlag, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-8365-3603-5 , pp. 100 .
  2. ↑ a b Quercus nigra in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Quercus nigra. In: Oaks of the World. Retrieved January 14, 2014 .
  4. ↑ USGS = US Geological Survey - Digital Representations of Tree Species Range Maps from "Atlas of United States Trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr. (and other publications)
  5. ↑ Quercus nigra L. Water oak at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The University of Texas at Austin. Last accessed on January 14, 2014
  6. ↑ Quercus nigra at aggie-horticulture .

Web links

Commons : Water Oak ( Quercus nigra )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files