What kind of Oaks?

[Redwood Ryan]

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:

Tree 2:

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


Ryan

 

[jk_lewis]

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.

 

[milehigh_7]

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.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Thanks both of you. I think one may be a Chestnut, and the other may be a White, but I'm unsure.

 

[milehigh_7]

I found these sites they may be of use:

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/Plants/keys/trees/oakkey.htm
http://www2.volstate.edu/JSchibig/key_to_the_species_of_oaks.htm

 

[rockm]

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.

 

[misfit11]

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.