Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing as the leaves begin to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate in slender, drooping catkins, the pistillate few in a group, with red stigmas.
Fruit: Acorn usually solitary, with or without a stalk, the nut ovoid to ellipsoid, dark brown, up to 1¾ inches long, the cup covering half to nearly all the nut, hairy, the lowermost scales long-fringed.
Wood: Heavy, hard, durable, close-grained, brown.
Uses: Cabinets, ship-building, fenceposts, fuel, tight cooperage.
Habitat: Dry ridges to bottomland woods.
Range: Vermont across to North Dakota, south to Texas, east to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Maryland.
Distinguishing Features: The leaves of the Bur Oak are distinctive because they are very broad in the upper half with a pair of deep sinuses a little below the middle. The large, fringed cups are also distinctive.
BLACKJACK OAK
Quercus marilandica Muench.
Other Name: Scrub Oak.