Quickie Quiz Jackpot #22

[mesquite buckeye]

Shumard oak? 😎

Also nope.

[mesquite buckeye]

shingle oak?

That would be it. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D



 

[Magicman]

Shingle Oak is not listed as occurring in Mississippi.  :P  I guess 35 different Oaks is enough anyway.   ;) 

[Sassafras73]

no prize? It's actually quite common in my area.

[mesquite buckeye]

No more whacks. ;D  8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

I'll post interesting information soon.

[WmFritz]

Did the bees move into their condo? I may add that I've never heard of about 30 of these 35 Oaks.  ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

Shingle Oak, Quercus imbricaria

Natural range of shingle oak from USDA Plants.    http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=QUIM

Shingle oaks have almost tropical looking leaves and are the last tree to go deciduous in the fall, often with individuals still holding green leaves a month after the rest of the forest has gone to sleep.

The wood is heavy, hard and strong, similar in strength to hickory. Trees are considered very low value by the timber industry, as the trees of any size often have large, internal radial cracks, often with accompanying rots. In Missouri the loggers call them Shakey Oak. The trees tend to hang onto residual branches as they grow, resulting in most trees being very knotty like pin oaks. I have noted individual plants in my MO woods with superior form and less tendency to hold onto dead branches. I am selecting for these individuals during thinnings so they will increase their abundance in the stand and produce superior seed.

In the past the trees were used to make roofing shingles since the wood splits very easily and cleanly.

My thoughts of being able to identify this tree out of the other red oaks has to do with the very large pith rays, typically several inches in height. The books say that rays don't get to be over 1 - 1 1/4" high in red oaks. If I am reading the books correctly, this would be the only red oak that has this characteristic. I think examination of the other laurel oak group members is in order.

I am thinking the reason that this wood splits so easily has to do with the large pith rays forming areas of weakness that allow easy splitting along these lines. The easy splitting tendency also explains the tendency for the trees to have internal cracks since it would be easy to produce internal splitting in high winds from bending stress. We see the same thing in the mesquite forest. There you can hear the trees popping inside the trunks during high winds.

I'd be interested in the thoughts of the experts on the subject.... ;D 8) 8) 8)

[mesquite buckeye]

Haven't seen any bees yet. :(

WmFritz: It is supposed to be in Michigan. You might look for them late in the fall when most of the leaves in the forest are down. I never noticed them when I lived in Ohio. When dad moved to Missouri in the 1970's they were everywhere, probably the most common tree on the farm. They don't even really look like any oak that I had seen at the time unless you happen to notice the rather small acorns.

They are listed as endangered in New Jersey.

If you click on the map at the USDA link above you can zoom in and see that shingle oak is known to occur in quite a few counties in southern Michigan.  ;D