Trees of Alabama and the Southeast Home Page

 Leaves are simple, alternate and deciduous with regular, rounded, bristle-less, shallow lobes with a callous (mucronate) tip on the end of each lobe.  Terminal buds are orange-brown, smooth, and pointed.  Bark is similar to white oak but not as scaly.  Fruit is an acorn 3/4 inches long with a dark acorn and thin, bowl-shaped cap covering 1/3 of the nut.  The acorn matures in one season.  Chinkapin oak is found on a variety of sites in the eastern U.S. Chinkapin oak can be distinguished from chestnut oak by mucronate tips on leaf lobes and scaly bark, and from swamp chestnut oak by a more elliptical leaf shape in the upper canopy.  The wood is used as white oak lumber.  Acorns eaten by game birds, deer, and many small mammals.

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All text and photographs are intended for educational purposes only and are not for commercial use in any form.  All photographs are copyrighted by the named photographer(s), text copyright by Lisa Samuelson. © 2005, all rights reserved. Photographs by Mike Hogan.