Tree stands about 70 feet tall. Roundish leaf lobes. Acorns are not yet ripe.

*This tree has been identified as Post oak, Quercus stellata.



More pictures


Bark



Entire tree

Quercus gambelii?

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

The key you linked to on the other thread leads to Quercus macrocarpa, that doesn't look right but Quercus gambelii isn't listed on it.

http://bioimages.vanderbilt.ed...

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

http://www.theplantlist.org/tp...

Great links, Janet.

Thank you Janet. It does look promising. I'll be watching the acorns to see how they mature. Thank you for all of your help. It would be so nice to be able to identify at least some of the trees here.

For a little history, the property is mostly a hardwood deciduous forest, comprised predominately of oaks and hickories with a few pecans, then the understory trees and so on. I would guess there are at least a dozen oak varieties, not counting any cross-breeding that may have occured.

The leaves remind me of a blackjack oak

Thank you Jolana. I keep coming upon the Blackjack oak for this one too...

edit to say I think this one is too tall.

I think Black Jack oak as well.
That is a very big one, we don't have them that big here in North Central Texas.

You have a lot of Oaks there!

Blackjack Oak, Quercus marilandica has three lobed ends but generally not lobed elsewhere. It also has spines on the lobe tips.

http://www.bio.utexas.edu/cour...

Post Oak (Quercus stellata)

I'm sort of inclined to agree with Kent about the Post Oak. The bark and general growth look right. They are variable. No two trees are alike. I think they might grow larger in east Texas than here in North Central Texas, but an old undamaged tree can be large.

Yes, that is it - Post Oak, Q. stellata. This is a very old and large tree; there are a few very large trees in this area, some of them are starting to die off, not sure what the life expectancy is. Will have to look further.

Thank you all for your help!!

I am marking this one solved.

I looked at Quercus stellata, but passed it by because the leaves should form a 'cross', there may be some on this tree which do that, the shot of a leaf on it's own is close to that shape. The acorns protrude from the cap much more too, keep an eye on the acorns to see if they grow any bigger.

Alternate, simple, oblong, 6 to 10 inches long, with 5 lobes, the two middle lobes are distinctly square, resulting in an overall cruciform appearance, thickened texture; green above with scattered stellate pubescence, pubescent and paler below.

Acorns are 1/2 to 2/3 inches long and ovoid; cap is bowl-shaped and warty/scaly, covering 1/3 to 1/2 of the nut; Individual scales are more apparent than white oak; maturing in one year and ripening in the fall.

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

Look under the leaves for the "stellate pubescence" as shown on the next link.

http://www.carolinanature.com/...

Okay, Janet. I meant to look at the leaf underside yesterday while I was looking at one of the other tree's leaves. I'll do that and keep an eye on the acorns.

wildflowers said:Yes, that is it - Post Oak, Q. stellata. This is a very old and large tree; there are a few very large trees in this area, some of them are starting to die off, not sure what the life expectancy is. Will have to look further.

Oak trees are starting to die off all over North America. The proximate causes vary from place to place and tree to tree, but the ultimate cause is that the way we generally manage woodlands these days isn't favorable to oaks. They were exquisitely adapted the type of management used by aboriginal people for thousands of years, frequent low intensity fires primarily.

The stands of oaks you see around today are mostly remnants from the past. Woodlands dominated by oaks will persist for some time to come, for the simple reason that individual trees can live a long time, but they are steadily fading off the landscape.

Well that's pretty sad.

It's true the woodlands are fading away. Much of the forests in this area have been cleared for farmland or the timber. That won't happen here as long as I have anything to say about it. We are just coming out of four years of extreme drought, the main cause of tree loss in this area and other parts of Texas.

I keep coming back to Post oak, Quercus stellata for this one and feel quite sure Q. stellata is correct. Unfortunately, I can't get a close enough image to show the fine hairs. The acorns arent' ripe yet. I'll be keeping an eye out for changes in the autumn season.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/...
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/s...

Here is a tree that I think is Blackjack, Quercus marilandica

The thread "Oak tree in Texas #6" in Plant ID forum

I always think of Post Oaks as having a rather awkward form. Is this tree symmetrical?