Quercus phellos

COMMON NAME: Willow Oak,

FAMILY: Beech Family; Fagaceae (Black Oak Group)

GROWTH HABIT: Pyramidal becoming broadly oval. Medium to fast growth rate.

FOLIAGE: Simple, alternate, deciduous. Lance-shaped; 2-5 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide. Margin smooth or slightly wavy. Apex bristle-tipped; base wedge-shaped or rounded. Lustrous green and glabrous above;paler below and pubescent or glabrous. Petiole very short.

BUDS: Sharp-pointed, about 1/8 in. long, clustered at the tip.

BARK: Thin, light red-brown, smooth or on old trees broken into shallow, narrow fissures with irregular scaly plates between them.

FRUIT: Small, greenish or yellowish-brown acorn, maturing in two years. Sessile or short-stalked. 1/2 in or less in length, and enclosed only at the base by a scaly, reddish-brown, saucer-shaped cup.

NATIVE HABITAT: Southeastern New York to parts of northern Florida; west to eastern Oklahoma and Texas.