North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Quercus stellata

Quercus stellata Wangenh.

post oak

Synonym(s): Quercus stellata var. attenuata, Quercus stellata var. parviloba

Image ID: 16639
Image by: Sorrie, Bruce A.
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: QUST
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Quercus stellata
Include in WOTAS: 0
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2019-11-29

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: QUERC
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Quercus
GENUS AUTHORITY: L.
GENUS COMMON: Oak
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 350-530 species, trees and shrubs, of temperate, subtropical, and rarely tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Oaks are the predominant tree of our area, with a variety of species dominating much of the landscape in nearly every ecological situation. Only in a few specialized (and usually in some sense edaphically extreme) communities are oaks generally entirely absent: deepest Coastal Plain swamps, some Coastal Plain depression ponds, wettest pine savannas, pocosins, spruce-fir forests, highest elevation northern hardwood forests, and mountain bogs.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION: Identification notes: Many oak species are well-adapted to ecological situations in which fires frequently burn the ground layer. Fire-maintained communities of the Piedmont and Mountains typically have oaks such as Q. stellata, Q. marilandica var. marilandica, Q. ilicifolia, and Q. prinoides. The two latter species are normally shrubby, and have become rarer because of fire suppression (they require fire to prevent larger trees from outcompeting them). In contrast, Q. stellata and Q. marilandica var. marilandica become larger and more frequent in fire-suppressed conditions.
GENUS REFERENCES: Nixon in FNA (1997) (overall treatment); Jensen in FNA (1997) (red oaks); Nixon & Muller in FNA (1997) (white oaks); Godfrey (1988); Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti (2003); Cronquist (1991); Duncan & Duncan (1988); Hunt (1990)=Z; Hunt (1994); Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993).

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: FAGACE
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Fagaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: Dumortier 1829
FAMILY COMMON: Beech Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of about 8 genera and 620-1050 species, trees and shrubs, mostly of the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into se. Asia and Australia.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Nixon in FNA (1997); Govaerts & Frodin (1998); Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Elias (1971a).

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO:
STEMS: Pith continuous. Young twigs (1-year-old or less) brown or gray or orange or reddish-brown or yellow, (2â€“)3â€“5 mm wide, pubescent, stellate or tomentose. Twigs (2â€“4 years old) glabrous or pubescent. Leaf scars half-round, bundle scars numerous, stipule scars inconspicuous, stipule scars not circumferential. Bark of mature trunks checkered or furrowed or ridged. Buds axillary or terminal, bud clusters at ends of twigs present, brown or reddish-brown, (2â€“)3â€“4(â€“6) mm long, globose or ovoid or ovoid-conic, blunt or sharp, glabrate or pubescent, bud scales imbricate.
LEAVES: Leaves deciduous, simple, petiolate, alternate or spiral, 4â€“15(â€“20) cm long, 2â€“10(â€“12) cm wide, elliptic or obdeltoid or obovate, leaf margins entire, shallowly lobed or moderately lobed or deeply lobed, pinnately lobed, leaf lobes (3â€“)5 per leaf, leaf apices rounded, leaf bases attenuate or cordate or cuneate or obtuse. Leaf upper surface green or yellow-green, glabrate or pubescent, stellate. Leaf lower surface brown or gray or yellow-green, pubescent, stellate or stipitate glandular. Leaf venation pinnate, secondary veins on either side of the midvein 3â€“5. Petioles 0.3â€“1.5(â€“3) cm long, pubescent. Stipules present, caducous, not circumferential.
INFLORESCENCE: Inflorescences axillary, catkins or flowers solitary or spikes, flowers sessile.
FLOWERS: Flowers unisexual, epigynous. Perianth. Calyx radially symmetric, synsepalous. Sepals (2â€“)6(â€“8) per flower, caducous. Corolla absent. Androecium. Stamens (2â€“)6(â€“12) per flower, separate. Gynoecium. Ovaries inferior, pistils 1 per flower. Gynoecium syncarpous, 3 carpels per flower, styles 3 per pistil, placentation axile. Other floral features. Hypanthia present, involucres present.
FRUITS: Fruits accessory fruits or acorns or nuts, 1â€“3 cm long, brown, fruit maturation 1 years.
COMMENTS: Staminate flowers in pendent catkins, pistillate flowers solitary or in few- to many-flowered spikes; pistillate flowers enclosed by a scaly involucre which develops into the acorn cup.
HEIGHT: to 85 feet

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Tree

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Alternate
LEAF COMPLEXITY: Simple
LEAF RETENTION: Deciduous

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY: Radial (Actinomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: March or April or May or June.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
		x	x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR:

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
				x						x

FRUITING PERIOD: Sep-Nov (of the same year).

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Dry forests, Woods margins
NATIVE RANGE: eastern United States

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text: A mature post oak has a dense, rounded crown, with its height about the same as its width. Fall color varies, with individual trees showing a range of shades of yellow and brown. This handsome specimen, produces many massive horizontal limbs. Post oak is found growing in poor upland clay or sandy soils. Called post oak because its durable wood serves very well when made into fence posts. The species name, stellata, refers to its star-shaped hairs that are found on the underside of its leaves.

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE: Dry, Average, Well-drained
LIGHT EXPOSURE: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE: 5
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE: 9
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE: Bee Friendly, Bird Friendly
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
718	1985-0367			View
2764	1987-0258			View
3758	1991-0453			View
4479	1992-0635			View
5179	1995-0298			View
5654	1995-0778			View
6271	1995-1403			View
8571	2006-0150	2006-08-11		View
8589	2006-0168	2006-08-11		View
8600	2006-0179	2006-08-11		View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
1423	718	159	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
4595	2764	8	NCBG staff	1984-01-08	View
4596	2764	8	NCBG staff	1984-01-08	View
6065	3758	199	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
6807	4479	200	NCBG staff	1993-03-01	View
7628	5179	203	NCBG staff	1992-01-01	View
8168	5654	204	NCBG staff	1993-01-01	View
8926	6271	2	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
11761	8571	205	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
11779	8589	205	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
11790	8600	205	NCBG staff	0000-00-00	View
13064	0	25	Liloia	0000-00-00	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: QUST
USDA Common Name: Post Oak
Native Status: L48 (N)
Distribution: USA (AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Tree

NATIONAL WETLAND INDICATOR STATUS

Region:	AGCP	AK	AW	CB	EMP	GP	HI	MW	NCNE	WMVE
Status:	UPL				UPL	FACU		FACU	FACU

This information is derived from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2016 National Wetland Plant List, Version 3.3 (Lichvar, R.W., D.L. Banks, W.N. Kirchner, and N.C. Melvin. 2016. The National Wetland Plant List: 2016 wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2016-30: 1-17. Published 28 April 2016. ISSN 2153 733X). Regions: AGCP-Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, AK-Alaska, AW-Arid West, CB-Caribbean, EMP-Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, GP-Great Plains, HI-Hawaii, MW-Midwest, NCNE-Northcentral and Northeast, WMCV-Western Mountains, Valleys & Coast

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Quercus stellata
COMMON NAME: Post Oak
SYNONYMY: [= C, FNA, G, K1, K2, Pa, RAB, S, Va, W, WH3, WV; = Q. stellata var. stellata - F; < Q. stellata - Mo; = Q. villosa Walter]
PHENOLOGY: Apr; Sep-Nov (of the same year).
HABITAT: Upland forests and woodlands, especially in clay or rocky soils and in communities at least formerly exposed to fire.
COMMENTS: Se. MA, s. NY, s. PA, s. OH, s. IN, s. IA, and e. KS south to n. peninsular FL and TX. In KS, OK, and TX, post oak is one of the trees that forms the Prairie boundary. There is no question of the distinctness of Q. margarettae from Q. stellata. See Q. similis.
RANGE MAP: Quercus stellata.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Fagaceae Dumortier 1829 (Beech Family)
SUMMARY: A family of about 8 genera and 620-1050 species, trees and shrubs, mostly of the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into se. Asia and Australia.
REFERENCE: Nixon in FNA (1997); Govaerts & Frodin (1998); Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Elias (1971a).

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Quercus L. (Oak)
SUMMARY: A genus of about 350-530 species, trees and shrubs, of temperate, subtropical, and rarely tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Oaks are the predominant tree of our area, with a variety of species dominating much of the landscape in nearly every ecological situation. Only in a few specialized (and usually in some sense edaphically extreme) communities are oaks generally entirely absent: deepest Coastal Plain swamps, some Coastal Plain depression ponds, wettest pine savannas, pocosins, spruce-fir forests, highest elevation northern hardwood forests, and mountain bogs.
REFERENCE: Nixon in FNA (1997) (overall treatment); Jensen in FNA (1997) (red oaks); Nixon & Muller in FNA (1997) (white oaks); Godfrey (1988); Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti (2003); Cronquist (1991); Duncan & Duncan (1988); Hunt (1990)=Z; Hunt (1994); Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993).

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Quercus stellata in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Quercus stellata in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Quercus stellata in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Quercus stellata in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Quercus stellata in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Quercus stellata

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 16639 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 16639 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 16638 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 4448 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)