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Bur Oak (Scrub Oak)

Quercus macrocarpa

Traditional Indigenous Names 4

Cree: Maskawátik
Ojibwe: Mitigomizh
Michif: La shenn

Summary from Wikipedia 5

Quercus macrocarpa, the bur oak, sometimes spelled burr oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section Quercus sect. Quercus, native to North America in the eastern and central United States and eastern and central Canada. This plant is also called mossycup oak and mossycup white oak.

Easy identifiers 4

The lower branches of Bur Oak grow horizontally while its upper branches grow upward. The leaves of Bur Oak have deep, rounded lobes. Their leaves are very unique, which makes it an easy way to identify them. Their Acorns have a pointed tip and a cup on top which is covered in a fringe that is often described to resemble a bur.

Form 4

A small to medium size deciduous tree with a broad, rounded crown composed of variously spreading stout branches.

Bark 4

Light brown, rough, divided by deep furrows into scaly, flaky plates.

Twigs 4

Alternate, stout, ridged, hairy at first but becoming hairless. Lenticels small, oval, yellowish-brown. Terminal bud hairy, about 3 - 6 millimetres (1/8 inch) long, surrounded by five narrow hairy bracts and two or more lateral buds; lateral buds about the same size. Leaf scars moon-shaped, raised, brown; bundle scars in two curved rows, yellowish, not prominent.

Leaves 4

Alternate, simple, prominently lobed, 15 - 30 centimetres (4 - 10 inches) long, finely hairy beneath.

Flowers 4

After leaves, male in catkins, female single or few in a cluster.

Fruit 4

An acorn, 20 - 30 millimetres (3/4 - 1 1/4 inches) long, half-covered by cap, maturing in one year.

Occurrence 4

Common in southern Manitoba, north to The Pas; often in river bottom forests, occasionally in uplands.

Fun facts 4

Bur Oak can survive very tough situations, they have thick bark that can prevent the tree from dying in a forest fire or even from dying after repeated burnings. Bur Oak roots can grow very deep if there isn't anything in their way such as pipes, these deep roots can help them survive drought by sucking up water from deep in the ground. Bur Oak is also pollutant resistant which makes it a good tree to plant in cities. Bur Oak can live for hundreds of years and grow to be massive branching trees.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Manitoba Forestry
  2. (c) Chris Poling, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Chris Poling
  3. (c) Bill Schur, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Bill Schur
  4. (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
  5. Adapted by Manitoba Forestry from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_macrocarpa

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