Quercus nigra

COMMON NAME: Water Oak

FAMILY: Beech Family; Fagaceae

FOLIAGE: Simple, alternate, deciduous. size and shape variable. 2 - 6 in. long, Widest at the apex, which may be shallowly three-lobed, rounded, or with as many as seven lobes. Lobes are usually rounded but sometimes come to a sharp, abrupt point. Leaf narrows to a wedge-shaped base. Bluish green and glabrous, except for small tufts of brownish hairs in the vein axils below. Petiole short, less than 1/2 in. long.

BARK: Dark gray-black. Smooth or shallowly furrowed and scaly.

FRUIT: Short-stalked or sessile acorn, maturing in two years; dark, nearly round, 1/3 - 3/4 in. long. Enclosed at base only or for up to one-third of its length by a shallow cup covered with thin scales.

NATIVE HABITAT: Southern New Jersey to central Florida; west to eastern Texas, Oklahoma, and southeastern Missouri.