Quercus prinus
Branch with leaves and acorn
The chestnut oak (Quercus montana ) is a large tree of the genus of oak trees in the beech family. The distribution area is located in North America.
Description
The chestnut oak is a 20 to 30 meter high tree with rounded, closed crown. The bark is dark gray or dark brown, deeply furrowed with broad, finely transversely torn beads. Young shoots are hairy. The leaves are 12-20 cm long and 6-10 cm wide, obovate to elliptic, acute or acuminate with wedge-shaped or rounded base. The leaf blade is roughly regularly crenate lobed with 10-14 blunt lobes on each side. The upper leaf surface is yellowish green and glossy, the underside is lighter and finely hairy tomentose. The petiole is 1.5 to 3.5 inches long.
The light-brown fruits are 3 to 3.5 inches long, ovate, sitting to short-stalked and surrounded at a third to a half of a warty fruit cups. The acorns grow in pairs or individually. The chromosome number is 2n = 24
Distribution and ecology
The distribution area is in the east and in the middle of the USA. The species grows in 0-1400 meters in species-poor forests on moderately dry to moderately moist, acidic to neutral soil in full sun to light shade locations. It is heat- loving and hardy.
Systematics and history of research
The chestnut oak (Quercus montana) is a species in the genus of oaks (Quercus ) in the beech family ( Fagaceae ). The first description was in 1805 by Carl Ludwig Willdenow. A synonym of the species is Quercus prinus L. ( nomen ambiguum ).
Use
The chestnut oak is very rarely used commercially for their wood.