Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fagales
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus
Section: Lobatae (red oaks)
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus phellos
FAMILY
Fagaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read Edible Wild Plants: Oak from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina website.
Willow Oak has been widely planted in parking lots, roadsides, and parks. The lance-shaped leaves resemble the leaves of a willow, hence the common name. If you look closely at the leaf tip, you’ll often find a short bristle sticking off the end. Read more at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus phellos
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus phellos
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-030:
Quercus phellos FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus phellos
COMMON NAME:
Willow Oak, "Pin Oak"
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux dcp34_p31
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Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_294b
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_quph_001_lvd
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_quph_004_lvd
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_phellos
January
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JK Marlow jkm0402d_14
February Greenville County SC
Furman University
Young bark smooth and dark gray; mature bark has deep furrows & rough ridges, per Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003).
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JK Marlow jkm080314_003
March Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm080314_006
March Greenville County SC
Acorn cups covering 1/3 or less of nut, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
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Bruce A. Sorrie bas_q_phellos9e
April Moore County NC
)
Keith Bradley kab_quercus_phellos_1071
April Richland County SC
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JK Marlow s050503_a
May Greenville County SC
Parking lot
Leaves narrowly oblong or lanceolate, margin entire, both base & apex acute, per Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003).
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JK Marlow jkm0406l_23
June Greenville County SC
Parking lot
)
JK Marlow jkm0407e_16
July Greenville County SC
Downtown Greenville
Widely planted as a street tree in towns and cities, per Weakley's Flora.
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JK Marlow jkm0407e_18
July Greenville County SC
Downtown Greenville
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_phellos_leaves
September
)
Paul Thompson pstquercus_phellos
September?
Note tufts of light-colored woolly pubescence along midrib on leaf underside. — Clemson Extension
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JK Marlow jkm061111_015
November York County SC
Blackjacks Heritage Preserve
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JK Marlow s041201_a
December Greenville County SC
Leaf apex bristle-tipped, per Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus phellos
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus phellos
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus phellos
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-030:
Quercus phellos
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus phellos
1195
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Bottomland forests, especially on natural levees and second terraces, also in upland depression swamps developed on clay soils and in upland clay hardpan situations, weedy and successional on slopes and upland sites as a "weed tree" following disturbance, and widely planted as a street tree in towns and cities, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Coastal Plain, uncommon in Piedmont, uncommon to rare in Mountains
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate, 5-ranked
FLOWER:
Spring
Staminate calyx 2-8 lobed, pistillate calyx 6-lobed
Petals absent
3-12 stamens in staminate flowers
Unisexual
Staminate flowers in clustered drooping catkins
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Acorn
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p049
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p312
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p300
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p208
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p080
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p190
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p249
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p24
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p278
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