Range: Southern Virginia across to eastern Texas, north up the Mississippi Valley to southern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana; also in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey; southward to Florida.
Distinguishing Features: The best identifying characteristic of this plant is the acorn in which the nut often is nearly enclosed by the cup.
BUR OAK
Quercus macrocarpa Michx.
Other Name: Mossy-cup Oak.
Growth Form: Large tree up to 120 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 5 feet; crown rounded, with stout branches; trunk straight, stout, sometimes slightly buttressed at the base.
Bark: Dark brown or yellow-brown, rather deeply furrowed.
Twigs: Stout, dark brown, often with corky ridges; pith star-shaped in cross-section; leaf scars alternate but clustered near the tip, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces.
Buds: Rounded or slightly pointed at the tip, yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, finely hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades broader at the upper end, coarsely round-toothed, usually with a pair of deep sinuses just below the middle, often with as many as 5-7 lobes, the lobes not bristle-tipped, dark green and smooth or slightly hairy on the upper surface, paler and softly hairy on the lower surface, up to 14 inches long and 7 inches wide; leaf stalks up to 1 inch long, stout, smooth or finely hairy.