Quercus nigra
Water oak ( Quercus nigra)
The water oak ( Quercus nigra) is a species of the genus of oaks (Quercus ) in the beech family ( Fagaceae ). The natural range is in the eastern to central United States. Your English common names are water oak or possum oak.
Description
Appearance, bark, wood, terminal bud and leaf
The water oak grows as a deciduous to semi-evergreen, fast-growing tree with plant height 23-25 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, ovate tomentose.
The leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The bald petiole is about 0.5 inches long. However, the leaf blade at a length of 4 to 13 centimeters and a width of 2 to 5 centimeters very different shapes always with wedge-shaped Spreitenbasis. Sometimes the leaf blade is easy, sometimes at the top of two-to three-lobed, the lobes are always wider than the Spreitenbasis. The leaves fall late in winter.
Inflorescence and fruit
The Water Oak has hanging, about 5 to 8 centimeters long, kitten -like inflorescences. The singly or in pairs standing acorns are spherical with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 inches. The acorns have a blackish color with pale stripes.
Occurrence
The distribution area of Quercus nigra is located in the eastern to central United States. Locality data are available for the U.S. states of New Jersey, southeastern Missouri, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Texas. The water oak comes at altitudes before 0-450 meters in humid lowlands and adjacent areas.
Use
The Water Oak is little used. A use as firewood and for charcoal production, however, takes place. The water oak is used in the southern states as well on and implantable shade tree in streets and parks. This beautiful, fast growing shade tree thrives in moist soils, but is not particularly durable. Quercus nigra thrives in USDA hardiness zone 6, they can cultivate so in much of the temperate to subtropical areas. Young specimens need a winter protection during heavy frosts.
System
The first publication of Quercus nigra was performed in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 2, pp. 995 synonyms Quercus nigra L., 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 red oak ( Lobatae ) from the subgenus Quercus in the species of oaks (Quercus ).
Quercus nigra forms hybrids with: Quercus falcata ( = Quercus × garlandensis EJPalmer ), Quercus laevis ( = Quercus × walteriana Ashe ), Quercus marilandica, Quercus phellos ( = Quercus × capesii W.Wolf ), ( = Quercus × sterilis Trel. ) Quercus shumardii ( = Quercus × neopalmeri Sudw. ) and Quercus velutina ( = Quercus × demarei Ashe ).