FAGACEAE - - Beech Family

Quercus nigra Linnaeus — Water Oak

Water Oak (Quercus nigra) - Tree becoming 30 m. tall, the bark gray or blackish, or tinged with red, broken into appressed scales; leaves deciduous northward, partly evergreen southward; blades oblanceolate to spatulate or rhombic in outline, 5—15 cm. long, entire and sometimes with a dilated terminal lobe, or 3—lobed at the apex, glabrous beneath or sometimes sparingly tomentose; acorn sessile or short-peduncled; cup saucer-shaped, 12—15 mm. wide; nut subglobose, 10—13 mm. long.

Habitat:

Bottomland forests, especially on levees or second terraces where flooded infrequently and for short periods, less commonly on mesic slopes. Primarily a species of the Southeastern Coastal Plain. Seedlings and fire sprouts of this species are highly variable.

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

The range of Quercus nigra (Water 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)].

The Georgia range of Quercus nigra (Water Oak)

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/.