Please try our next iteration of the Michigan Flora Online here. Beginning on February 1, 2023, michiganflora.net will point to this new site.

The new site offers several benefits over the existing website, including real coordinate mapping, giving a clearer view of the density of documentation as well as more precision about plant distributions and their link to landforms. We will also have the ability to update species pages more regularly, both in terms of new collections and as more existing Michigan specimens are georeferenced. In addition, we have a better photo display, and offer indented keys.

R. Schipper

All Images Enlarge Image

Usually in dry sandy forests with other oaks and hickory or (in cutover areas) red maple and large-tooth aspen.

Yellow or orange inner bark is a good character for this species, but is rarely noted on herbarium specimens. The scaly fringed aspect of the cup around the acorn and the large, hairy, angled winter buds are also diagnostic. The glossy leaves, often but not always lobed more than halfway to the midrib, will also help to distinguish black oak from red oak.

See under Quercus ellipsoidalis, Q. imbricaria, and Q. rubra for hybrids.  

Citation: