General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Tree
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Water Preferences: Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Soil pH Preferences: Strongly acid (5.1 – 5.5)
Moderately acid (5.6 – 6.0)
Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 8b
Plant Height: 5 - 20 feet
Plant Spread: 5 - 20 feet
Leaves: Unusual foliage color
Fruit: Showy
Edible to birds
Flower Time: Spring
Suitable Locations: Patio/Ornamental/Small Tree
Uses: Provides winter interest
Will Naturalize
Edible Parts: Fruit
Dynamic Accumulator: K (Potassium)
Wildlife Attractant: Birds
Resistances: Drought tolerant
Propagation: Seeds: Sow in situ
Seeds are hydrophilic
Pollinators: Wind
Containers: Not suitable for containers
Miscellaneous: Tolerates poor soil
Monoecious

Image
Common names
  • Dwarf Chinkapin Oak
  • Dwarf Chestnut Oak
  • Oak

Photo Gallery
Location: Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
public domain photo by Daderot via NC Cooperative Extension: http

Date: c. 1865
illustration [as Q. prinus chincapin] by Bessa from Michaux's 'No
Location: National Botanical Garden (DC) | November 2022
Date: 2022-11-26
Location: Oak Collection at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL
Date: 2015-06-19
a planted specimen
Location: My garden in southeast Nebraska
Date: 2012-05-19
Location: Oak Collection at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL
Date: 2015-06-19
the summer foliage
Location: Vienna, VA
Date: 2018-04-30
catkins on young Quercus prinoides
Location: Vienna, VA
Date: 2018-04-30
Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Dec 12, 2017 7:48 PM concerning plant:
    This shrub or small tree has a fairly large native range, but I have never seen it in the wild or planted anywhere, except at Morton Arboretum in northeast Illinois. It grows on dry rocky ridges and banks, hilltops, sandy barrens, borders of woods, and rocky river bluffs. Its wild range is from western new England down to northern Alabama, to east Texas & Oklahoma & Kansas up to southeast Minnesota through southern Wisconsin and southern Michigan. I believe it is most common in the Appalachian Region. It is slow growing of less than 1 foot/year and lives over 200 years. It has a stoloniferous suckering habit to make a colony. Its fibrous yet deep lateral roots makes it difficult to transplant. A few native plant nurseries may sell it in big pots.

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