Quercus marilandica

A small to medium-sized oak, 30-50 ft, with bristle-lobed leaves that are shiny on top & rusty-yellow hairy beneath. The short, nearly black trunk divides into many dense, contorted limbs, bark dark, furrowed; dead branches persistent. Leaf blades wedge shaped (obdeltoid - obovate) with a narrow, rounded base and broadening toward the tip. Blades shallowly lobed with usually an apical and 2 lateral lobes bearing bristlelike extensions (awns) of the main vein. Foliage glossy dark green turns red in fall and persists into winter. Acorn elliptic, broadly rounded at the apex and base, up to 3/4 inch long when mature; cap covering 1/2 the nut. This oak sometimes grows in colonies.
GROWTH FORM: small
to medium sized tree usually
between 15 - 45 feet (4.6 - 19.8
m), occasionally to 95 feet
(28.9 m), with an open irregular
spreading crown of crooked
branches and some dead twigs,
slow growing and short lived.
BARK: thick rough bark,
nearly black, with deep furrows,
mature bark forming irregular or rectangular plates, orange inner bark. TWIGS and BUDS: light brown twigs, finely pubescent; narrowly ovoid pointed buds, reddish-brown pubescent scales, 5-angled in cross section. LEAVES: pubescent petiole 1⁄4 - 3⁄4 inch (6 - 19 mm) long; leaf broadly triangular and widest near tip, 2 3⁄4 - 8 inches
(70 - 203 mm) long, 2 3⁄4 - 8 inches (70 - 203 mm) wide, leathery, base rounded, thickened blade with 3 - 5 broad lobes, with 1 - 3 bristle- tipped teeth, apex obtuse; glossy yellowish-green above, pale green with dense brown pubescence (scurfy) below, secondary veins raised
on both surfaces.
This species and Post Oak (Quercus stellata Wangenh.) form the Cross Timbers in Texas and Oklahoma, the forest border of small trees and transition zone to prairie grassland. This tree was first described in 1704 from a specimen in the colony of Maryland, referred to in the Latin species name. Blackjack oak is one of the few species of red oaks that shares the white oak group characteristic of vessels blocked by tyloses. Western populations in Texas and Oklahoma are often recognized as Q. marilandica var. ashei.

Water sparingly, allowing the mix to nearly dry out between watering.

Quercus Marilandica

Quercus marilandica

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