What kind of Oaks?

Redwood Ryan

Masterpiece
Messages
4,555
Reaction score
2,584
Location
Virginia
USDA Zone
7A
Hey everyone, I got some recently sprouted acorns and I was wondering the species they are. I don't remember if they all came from the same tree, but I don't think they did. But here they are:

Tree 1:
005-2.jpg

006-3.jpg


Tree 2:
009-17.jpg


Now, I'm sure they won't make very good bonsai, but I've been wondering what species they are. Thank you everyone!


Ryan
 
The problem here is that the early leaves on oak seedlings don't really look much like the leaves of a sapling or full grown oak. If I had to guess, the first two are water oaks and the last is a chestnut oak -- but I'm very likely wrong because hese are so young. Also many/some oaks are cross fertile. I'm of the opinion that the taxonomic splitters have been at work on the oaks and there should be many fewer species than there are.
 
From what I understand keying oaks is a tricky business. In addition to the leaves you need to make several observations about the acorns and to some extent the bark. I found a pretty good resource for keying Calli oaks you can likely find one for the area these are from.
 
Thanks both of you. I think one may be a Chestnut, and the other may be a White, but I'm unsure.
 
Can't really tell for sure. If you're in Gainesville, could be white oak and red oak... but they could also be something else.

http://www.dof.virginia.gov/trees/index.shtml

The leaves look to be distorted in your trees, as they've most likely sprouted inside. The leaves are huge because of lack of light.
 
Here in CA it is very difficult to key/ID species of oaks since they hybridized so readily. You can have a black oak/valley oak cross or a black oak/needle oak etc. It seems like you see the live oaks used as bonsai more than the deciduous ones. I'm not sure about the east coast though.
 
Back
Top Bottom