• Blackjack Oak Tree Leaves
• Blackjack Oak Tree Leaves Pictures

Uncommon small tree of uplands, most often growing on poor, dry sites. Intolerant of shade. The large, coarse leaves are club-shaped, thick, glossy above, and hairy below. Water Oak (Quercus nigra) also has club-shaped leaves, but is not otherwise similar - it's a large tree of wet areas, with much smaller, smooth leaves and less rough bark.

Oak trees are prized among residential homeowners for their aesthetic value and durability. Technically classified as a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus, they are commonly found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, including North America. In fact, there are more species of oak trees in North America than any other region.

Like other oaks, the staminate (male) flowers are in drooping catkins.

1. The leaves are scalloped with short, white hairs on top and brownish fuzz underneath. The leaves have three to five lobes, each with a short bristle on the tip. Blackjack oak provides fair grazing for wildlife. For livestock, it is poisonous and provides poor grazing.
2. The oak tree leaf is broad, thin and flat and is called a broadleaf. The shape of the leaf may be ovate, obovate and sometimes, elliptic. Oak tree leaves may be deeply pinnatifid-like seen in Canada. The characteristic features in an oak leaf are its lobes and sinuses (space between the lobes).

Orange Co., NC 4/12/08.

Scotland Co., NC 4/20/05.

Fall foliage is red to brown.

Durham, NC 11/18/06.

Blackish, blocky bark of a large tree.

Quercus marilandica, the blackjack oak, is a small oak, one of the red oak groupQuercus sect. Lobatae. It is native to the eastern and central United States, from Long Island to Florida, west as far as Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. There are reports of a few isolated populations in southern Michigan, but these appear to represent introductions.^[5][6]

Quercus marilandica is a small deciduoustree growing to 15 meters (49 feet) tall, with bark cracked into rectangular black plates with narrow orange fissures. The leaves are 7–20 cm (3–8 in) long and broad, and typically flare from a tapered base to a broad three-lobed bell shape with only shallow indentations. They are dark green and glossy above, pubescent underneath, and often remain attached to the twigs through the winter after turning colors from red to brown in the fall. The acorn is small, 12–20 mm (0.47–0.79 in) long and 10–18 mm (0.39–0.71 in) broad; like other red oaks, it takes 18 months to mature.^[7]

Habitat and distribution[edit]

Blackjack Oak Tree Leaves

The blackjack oak grows in poor, thin, dry, rocky or sandy soils where few other woody plants can thrive, usually on low ground, from sea level up to approximately 2,800 feet (850 meters) in altitude. Some commentators say that it does not have the beautiful form of many oaks, but is nonetheless a valuable tree for growing in problem sites.^[8] Some say that the tree is 'tough but ugly', but also underappreciated.^[9][10] At times the tree has even been actively eradicated to provide room for trees deemed to be more commercially valuable.^[11]

It is sometimes an understory tree in pine stands on sandy knolls in the southeastern US. Along the coastal plain of New Jersey the probability of finding this species is increased in relatively sunny, open areas such as those near coastal salt marshes. It often occurs near scarlet and post oaks as well as pitch pine; understory companions include winged sumac, bracken, sweetfern, and bayberry, and can be found as far north as parts of Ohio^[12] and New York.

A variety, Quercus marilandica Münchhausen var. asheiSudworth,^[7] grows in the western portions of its range – northern Texas, Oklahoma, and into southern Kansas. In this area, blackjack and post oak form a semi-savanna area composed of forested strips intermixed with prairie grass glades along the eastern edge of the southern Great Plains. This semi-savanna is known as the Cross Timbers.^[13][14][15] Scrub forms of Q. marilandica dominate on many chert glades along with Q.stellata in Arkansas's Ozark plateau.^[16]

Blackjack oak sometimes hybridizes with bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia), forming a hybrid known as Q. × brittonii.^[17]

Blackjack Oak Tree Leaves Pictures

Blackjacks in the Cross Timbers can grow from 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 m) high with a trunk diameter of 16 inches (41 cm), but seldom reach more than 40 feet (12 m). The leaves are from 4 to 10 inches (10 to 25 cm) in length and about the same width. Blackjack acorns provide food for both whitetail deer and wild turkey. Blackjacks may, however, cause tannic acid poisoning in cattle.

Uses[edit]

The wood is very dense and produces a hot flame when burned, which functions as an excellent source of heat for barbecues and wood-burning stoves. However, the wood is not desirable for wood fireplaces because the heat causes popping, thereby increasing the risk of house fires.^[18]

Traditionally blackjack wood is used as both a fuel and smoke wood for barbecue in Oklahoma.

References[edit]

1. ^Wenzell, K.; Kenny, L. (2015). 'Quercus marilandica'. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2017.old-form url
2. ^Münchhausen, Otto von (1770). 'Verzeichniß der Bäume und Stauden, welche in Deutschland fortkommen'. Der Hausvater. 5. Hannover: Försters und Sohns Erben. pp. 253: diagnosis in Latin, description in German in Teutonic script.
3. ^'Quercus marilandica (L.) Münchh'. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 31 October 2017 – via The Plant List.
4. ^'Quercus marilandica Münchh'. Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
5. ^'Quercus marilandica Range Map'(PDF). United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original(PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
6. ^'Quercus marilandica'. County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
7. ^ ^abNixon, Kevin C. (1997). 'Quercus marilandica'. In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 3. New York and Oxford. Retrieved 31 October 2017 – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
8. ^Liming, Franklin G. (1 March 1942). 'Blackjack Oak in the Missouri Ozarks'. Journal of Forestry. Society of American Foresters. 40 (3): 249–252.
9. ^Klingaman, Gerald (September 22, 2000). 'Plant of the Week: Blackjack Oak'. Extension News. University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
10. ^Nelson, John (12 January 2017). 'Blackjack oak grows in hardscrabble habitat'. Tallahassee Democrat. Tallahassee, Florida. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
11. ^Clark, F. Bryan; Liming, Franklin G. (December 1953), Sprouting of Blackjack Oak in the Missouri Ozarks, Technical Paper No. 137, Division of Forest Management, Central States Forest Experiment Station
12. ^'Blackjack Oak'. What Tree Is It?. Ohio Public Library Information Network and The Ohio Historical Society. 1997.
13. ^Oklahoma Biological Survey (2016). 'Ancient Cross Timbers'. University of Oklahoma. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
14. ^Oklahoma Forestry Services. 'Oklahoma's Forests > Oklahoma's Major Forest Types > Post Oak-Blackjack Forest'. Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
15. ^Engle, David M. (18 March 1997). 'Oak ecology'. Stillwater, Oklahoma: Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Oklahoma State University. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
16. ^Hogan, C. Michael (26 November 2012). 'Oak'. In Dawson, A.; Cleveland, C.J. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Earth. Washington DC: National Council for Science and the Environment. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013.
17. ^Shapiro, Leo (28 September 2012). 'Quercus marilandica – Blackjack Oak'. Encyclopedia of Life. Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
18. ^Hatch, Stephan L.; Pluhar, Jennifer, eds. (1999). Texas Range Plants. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN0-89096-538-2.

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