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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 73: BLACK JACK OAK
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

BLACK JACK OAK

Quercus marilandica, Muench.

Form.—Height 30-50 feet, diameter 12-18 inches; crown narrow and compact with short stout branches.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 6-7 inches long, nearly as wide as long, rounded and narrow at the base, broadening outward, with about 3 broad and shallow lobes which are dentate; leathery, dark green and lustrous above, paler and often coated with a rusty, scurfy pubescence beneath.

Flowers.—May, with the leaves; monoecious; the staminate flowers in long catkins, the pistillate on short pubescent stalks.

Fruit.—Acorns mature the second autumn after the flowers; cup deep, covering about ½ of the nut, downy within, scales large, reddish-brown and loose.

Bark.—Rough, with deep fissures and dark ridges which are broken into broad angular plates.

Wood.—Heavy, hard, strong, dark brown.

Range.—New York to Florida and Texas, west to Nebraska.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Observed only on the western slope of Blue Ridge Mountains in Jefferson County.

Habitat.—Sandy or heavy clay soils.

Notes.—The Black Jack Oak is very rare and scrubby in growth in this State. It has no value as a timber tree, but is desirable for ornamental purposes.