Yellow Chestnut Oak, Chinkapin oak
Quercus muehlenbergii
Family: Fagaceae
What it is like
Bloom Color: Brown. Main Bloom Time: Early spring, Late spring, Mid spring. Form: Rounded, Spreading or horizontal.
Quercus muehlenbergii is a deciduous Tree growing to 20 m (65ft) by 10 m (32ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 4 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to June, and the seeds ripen in November. The species is monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and is pollinated by Wind. Suitable for: medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.
Height (m): 20
Where it is found
Dry calcareous slopes and ridges, or on rich bottoms. Well-drained uplands, favouring limestone soils and avoiding acid soils.
Eastern N. America - Vermont and Ontario to Minnesota, Nebraska, Alabama and Texas.
Conservation Status:
Countries/locations it is found in
How it is used
Food
Rating: 3
Seed - cooked. It is up to 18mm long. The seed contains very little bitter tannin, it is quite sweet and rather pleasant eating. Tastes nice when baked in an oven. Any bitter seeds can be leached by thoroughly washing the seed in running water though many minerals will also be lost. Either the whole seed can be used or the seed can be dried and ground it into a powder. It can take several days or even weeks to properly leach whole seeds, one method was to wrap them in a cloth bag and place them in a stream. Leaching the powder is quicker. A simple taste test can tell when the tannin has been leached. The traditional method of preparing the seed was to bury it in boggy ground overwinter. The germinating seed was dug up in the spring when it would have lost most of its astringency Roasted seed is a coffee substitute.
Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.
Coffee: the various substitutes that can be used instead of coffee.
Medicine
Rating: 2
An infusion of the bark has been used in the treatment of vomiting. Any galls produced on the tree are strongly astringent and can be used in the treatment of haemorrhages, chronic diarrhoea, dysentery etc.
Antiemetic: Prevents vomiting.
Astringent: Produces contraction in living tissue, reducing the flow of secretions and discharges of blood, mucus, diarrhoea etc.
Dysentery: Used in treating dysentery - an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhoea containing blood or mucus.
Other
Rating: 3
A mulch of the leaves repels slugs, grubs etc, though fresh leaves should not be used as these can inhibit plant growth. Oak galls are excrescences that are sometimes produced in great numbers on the tree and are caused by the activity of the larvae of different insects. The insects live inside these galls, obtaining their nutrient therein. When the insect pupates and leaves, the gall can be used as a rich source of tannin, that can also be used as a dyestuff. Wood - heavy, very hard, strong, close grained, durable. It weighs 53lb per cubic foot. Not abundant enough to be used commercially, it is used for fencing, cooperage etc and makes an excellent fuel.
Fuel: Usually wood, plant materials that have been mentioned as being a good fuel.
Repellent: Plants that are said to deter but not necessarily kill various mammals, birds, insects etc.
Tannin: An astringent substance obtaied from plants, it is used medicinally, as a dye and mordant, stabilizer in pesticide etc.
Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.
Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.
How it is grown
Landscape Uses:Pest tolerant, Aggressive surface roots possible, Specimen, Street tree. Prefers a good deep fertile loam which can be on the stiff side. Young plants tolerate reasonable levels of side shade. Tolerates moderate exposure, surviving well but being somewhat stunted. Prefers warmer summers than are usually experienced in Britain, trees often grow poorly in this country and fail to properly ripen their wood resulting in frost damage overwinter. Growth is fairly rapid for an oak, especially when the tree is young, though it slows down with age. Seed production is cyclic, a year with high yields is followed by 2 - 3 years of light crops. The tree flowers on new growth produced in spring, the seed ripening in its first year. Q. muhlenbergii brayi (Small.)Sarg. has somewhat larger seeds than the type, sometimes 3cm long. Closely related to Q. prinus. Trees are often confused with Q. prinus, Q. prinoides and Q. michauxii. Trees respond well to coppicing. Intolerant of root disturbance, trees should be planted in their permanent positions whilst young. Hybridizes freely with other members of the genus. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus. Special Features:North American native, Inconspicuous flowers or blooms. The plant is heat tolerant in zones 8 through 2. (Plant Hardiness Zones show how well plants withstand cold winter temperatures. Plant Heat Zones show when plants would start suffering from the heat. The Plant Heat Zone map is based on the number of "heat days" experienced in a given area where the temperature climbs to over 86 degrees F (30°C). At this temperature, many plants begin to suffer physiological damage. Heat Zones range from 1 (no heat days) to 12 (210 or more heat days). For example Heat Zone. 11-1 indicates that the plant is heat tolerant in zones 11 through 1.) For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture (form - tree, shrub etc. and size shown above) information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. The plant growth habit is a standard with a non-suckering single trunk. The root pattern is a heart root, dividing from the crown into several primary roots going down and out.
Propagating it: Seed - it quickly loses viability if it is allowed to dry out. It can be stored moist and cool overwinter but is best sown as soon as it is ripe in an outdoor seed bed, though it must be protected from mice, squirrels etc. Small quantities of seed can be sown in deep pots in a cold frame. Plants produce a deep taproot and need to be planted out into their permanent positions as soon as possible, in fact seed sown in situ will produce the best trees. Trees should not be left in a nursery bed for more than 2 growing seasons without being moved or they will transplant very badly.
Best place to grow: Woodland Garden Canopy;
Habit: Tree
Hardiness: 4-8
Growth: Medium
Soil: Medium, heavy (clay)
Shade: Semi-shade, no shade
Moisture: Moist
Things to keep in mind
Its other names
Local names
Synonyms
Q. acuminata. non Roxb. Q. prinus acuminata.