Oaks of the World

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  Quercus shumardii
Author Buckley 1860 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12: 444 1860 publ. 1861.
Synonyms shumardii var. schneckii (Britt.) Sarg.1918
schneckii Britton 1901
texana auctores not Buckl.
Local names Shumard's oak;
Range South Ontario; Eastern and Central USA; introduced in Europe in 1908;
Growth habit 15-30 m tall and more; rounded open crown;
Leaves 8-18 x 6-13 cm; leathery; obovate to broad-elliptic; 3-5 pairs of lobulate, bristle-tipped, toothed lobes with deep sinuses; apex acute; base obtuse to acute; lustrous dark green, hairless above; paler, glabrous beneath except large axillary tufts of rusty hairs; red at fall; petiole hairless 3-6 cm long;
Flowers spring
Fruits acorn 1.8-2.8 cm long, with dark brown streaks; short-stalked; usually solitary; enclosed 1/4 by cup; cup 1.8-30 mm in diameter, with greyish pubescent, pointed, appressed scales; maturing in 2 years;

Bark, twigs and
buds

bark smooth, grey, becoming minutely fissured into pale ridges and dark furrows; twig grey to pale brown, with stellate pubescence, glabrescent; buds pale grey brown, never rusty, hairless, ellipsoid, 4-8 mm long, pentagonal in cross-section, with bloomy scales;
Hardiness zone, habitat hardy; all types of soils, but prefers moist and rich ones; rather fast-growing;
Miscellaneous

-- A. Camus : n° 426;
-- Sub-genus Quercus, section Lobatae, Series Coccineae;
-- Resembles Q.velutina ;
-- Benjamin F. Shumard (1820-1869) : geologist in Texas ;
-- Numerous hybrids, mainly with Q.falcata (= x joori), Q.imbricaria (= x egglestoni), Q.palustris (= x mutabilis), Q.phellos (= x moultonensis), Q.velutina (= x discreta), Q.marilandica (= x hastingsii), Q.nigra (= x neopalmeri) ;

-- Allied to Q. rubra and Q. coccinea, from which it differs in having pale buds, large axillary tufts on the leaf-undersides, and the shape of acorns;


Subspecies and
varieties

1_var. texana (Buckl.) Ashe = Q.texana Buckl. = Q.nuttallii Palmer ==> see Q.texana

2_var. schneckii (Britt. ) Sarg. 1926 J. Arnold Arbor. 7: 7
= Q.schneckii Britton 1901
actually it is the type ....but with deeper acorn cup enclosing 1/4 to 1/3 of nut;

3_var.acerifolia E.J.Palmer 1927
= Q.acerifolia (E.J.Palmer) Stoynoff & Hess 1990

4_ var. stenocarpa Laughlin 1969
very small cupules (12-18 mm in diameter) enclosing less than 1/3 of nut; Missouri, Illinois;

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