Chestnut Oak
Quercus montana
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Chestnut oak grows from northern Michigan and Maine to Louisiana and Georgia. Its native range includes south Ontario to southwestern Maine, south to Georgia, west to northeastern Mississippi, and north to southeastern Michigan. It is often found in dry and rocky soils but does best in well-drained lowland sites.
Fruit: A 1"-1.5" long acorn with a cup that covers 1/3 of the acorn. They drop from early September to early October.
Flowers: Male flowers are yellow-green on catkins, and female flowers are on short stalks. They develop in Spring at the same time as leaf development.
Uses: The wood is used for fenceposts, fuel, and railroad ties.
Ethnobotany: Chestnut oak as a high tannin content. Because of this, the bark was used in processing leather in the past.
Importance to wildlife: Chestnut oaks are larval hosts for many butterflies and moths. Acorns are eaten by songbirds, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, mice, deer, and other mammals.
The full chestnut oak tree. Chestnut oak is a medium to large deciduous tree.
The bark of a chestnut oak. It's reddish brown and deeply furrowed with v-shaped furrows.
Foliage/leaf arrangement of a chestnut oak. The leaves are simple alternate, leathery, 4-8 in long, and coarsely toothed or shallowly lobed. They're yellowish green and lustrous above, and paler and finely hairy beneath.
A single leaf of a chestnut oak. Leaves have 10-14 secondary veins on each side, as opposed to 15-20 on the similar swamp chestnut oaks. Leaves turn red or yellow in the fall.
The terminal bud of a chestnut oak. Buds are imbricate and often clustered. Also visible in this picture are the lenticels that cover the twigs.
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