FAGACEAE - - Beech Family

Quercus montana Willdenow — Rock Chestnut Oak

Rock Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana) - Tree becoming 30 m. tall, the bark reddish-brown or almost black, broken into broad rounded ridges and deep furrows; leaf-blades elliptic to oval, varying to broadest slightly above or below the middle, 15—20 cm. long, coursely crenate-serrate, gray tomentulose beneath; acorns short-peduncled; cup hemispheric, 12—35 mm. wide; nut ovoid or ellipsoid-ovoid, 25—35 mm. long.

Habitat:

Xeric forests of ridges and slopes, shale barrens, occasionally in mesic situations especially where rocky. Primarily Appalachian but broadly distributed in e. North America. The proper application of the Linnaean “Q. prinus” has been controversial and unclear, having been debated and variously applied for well over a century. The name “Q. prinus” has nomenclatural priority over either “Q. montana” or “Q. michauxii”, but it is not clear which species was intended; after centuries of uncertainty, Whittemore & Nixon (2005) proposed its formal rejection and the proposal was formally and unanimously accepted (Brummitt 2007). See two GA range maps below.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Quercus montana (Rock Chestnut Oak)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.