Chestnut Oak - Quercus prinus Fagaceae - Beech family

Research by Robert A. McQuilkin

Chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), sometimes called rock chestnut oak, rock oak, or tanbark oak, is commonly found in the Appalachian region on dry, infertile soils and rocky ridges but reaches best growth on rich well-drained soils along streams. Good acorn crops on this medium-sized, long-lived tree are infrequent, but the sweet nuts are eaten by wildlife when available. Chestnut oak is slow growing and the lumber is cut and sold as white oak.

Habitat
Native Range
Chestnut oak extends from southwestern Maine west through New York to extreme southern Ontario, southeastern Michigan, southern Indiana and Illinois, south to northeastern Mississippi, and east to central Alabama and Georgia; then north to Delaware, mostly west of the Coastal Plain. Its best growth occurs in the mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee (18).

Range of Chestnut Oak

Climate
The climate throughout most of the range of chestnut oak is humid, with small superhumid areas in the Appalachian Mountains. The average annual precipitation varies from 810 mm (32 in) in western New York and southern Ontario to more than 2030 mm (80 in) in the southern Appalachians; however, annual precipitation for the majority of the chestnut oak range is between 1020 and 1220 mm (40 and 48 in). Length of growing season varies from 120 days in New England to 240 days in northern Alabama and Georgia (18).

Soils and Topography
Chestnut oak is most commonly found on dry upland sites such as ridgetops and upper slopes with shallow soils, south- and west-facing upper slopes, and sandy or rocky soils with low moisture-holding capacity of the orders Ultisols and Inceptisols. Chestnut oak grows from near sea level on the Coastal Plain of New Jersey and Long Island to elevations of approximately 1400 in (4,600 ft) in the southern Appalachians (4,8).

In the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia, site index for chestnut oak ranges from 12 to 25 in (39 to 83 ft), and averages about 20 in (65 ft). Site index is greater on steep slopes, lower slope positions, and at elevations below 800 in (2,600 ft) than elsewhere. Other indicators of good chestnut oak sites are subsoils with more than 15 percent silt, loam or sandy loam surface soils, and sites where litter decomposes rapidly (15). Chestnut oak growth is poorest on soils of the Porters (Humic Hapludult) and Ashe (Typic Dystrochrept) series, intermediate on soils of the Hayesville and Halewood series (Typic Hapludults), and best on soils of the Tusquitee and Brevard series (Humic and Typic Hapludults, respectively) (6).

Associated Forest Cover
Chestnut oak is a major component in 2 forest cover types and an associated species in 10 others (8). Chestnut Oak (Society of American Foresters Type 44) is found primarily on dry south- and west-facing slopes, ridgetops, and rocky outcrops throughout the Appalachian Mountains at elevations from 450 to 1400 m (1,475 to 4,600 ft). Associated species in this type vary greatly by region, elevation, topographic position, and soils, and include other upland oaks (Quercus spp.) and hickories (Carya spp.); sweet birch (Betula lenta); yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera); blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica); sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua); black cherry (Prunus serotina); black walnut (Juglans nigra); red (Acer rubrum) and sugar (A. saccharum) maples; eastern redcedar (Juniperus uirginiana); eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis); and red (Pinus resinosa), eastern white (P. strobus), pitch (P. rigida), Table Mountain (P. pungens), shortleaf (P. echinata), Virginia (P. virginiana), and longleaf (P. palustris) pines. A variant of this type, chestnut oak-northern red oak, is found in disturbed forests in the Catskills in New York and on Massanutten Mountain in Virginia. The variant chestnut oak-scarlet oak is identified in the central Appalachians, while the variants chestnut oak-pitch pine, chestnut oak-eastern white pine-northern red oak, and chestnut oak-black oak-scarlet oak occur in the southern Appalachians.

White Pine-Chestnut Oak (Type 51) is found in the Appalachian region from West Virginia to Georgia. It is most common in southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina at elevations between 360 and 1100 m (1,200 and 3,600 ft). On the drier sites, common associated species include scarlet (Quercus coccinea), white (Q. alba), post (Q. stellata), and black (Q. velutina) oaks; hickories; blackgum; sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum); red maple; and pitch, Table Mountain, Virginia, and shortleaf pines. On more mesic sites, associated species include northern red (Quercus rubra) and white oaks, black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), yellow-poplar, sugar and red maples, and black cherry.

Chestnut oak is also an associated species in the following cover types: Eastern White Pine (Type 21); White Pine-Hemlock (Type 22); Red Maple (Type 108); Bear Oak (Type 43); White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Type 52) and its variants white oak-black oak-chestnut oak, black oak-scarlet oak-chestnut oak, and scarlet oak-chestnut oak; White Oak (Type 53); Black Oak (Type 110); Pitch Pine (Type 45) and its variant pitch pine-chestnut oak; Virginia Pine (Type 79); and Virginia Pine-Oak (Type 78).

Common shrub associates of chestnut oak include highbush and lowbush blueberry (Vaccinum corymbosum and V. angustifolium), dwarf chinkapin oak Quercus prinoides), and mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia).

Before the demise of American chestnut (Castanea dentata), chestnut oak was an important component of the Appalachian oak-chestnut forests. Since then, hickory, chestnut oak, northern red oak, and white oak have replaced American chestnut as these stands have gradually changed to oak-hickory stands (20).

Reprinted With Permission of the USDA Forest Service,
St. Paul Field Office

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