The Oak Family
What are they?
Oaks are hugely important as forest trees throughout much of the world and equally so in Cape May County. For centuries the wood and fruits of many members of this family have been important to Man, and even longer to native wildife.
Where are they found?
Oaks and the American Beech are an integral part of most forest types in Cape May County, both wet and dry. Most species are typical climax woodland species and thus more likely to be found in older, undisturbed woodland rather than in young, regenerating sites.
Identification
Identification of many species is possible just from leaves, but some groups are a little trickier and require the acorns and acorn cups, buds or sometimes the bark to be checked.
American Beech Fagus grandifolia
Found at scattered locations throughout Cape May County, though never a dominant tree. Occurs in mixed forests on drier soils, though not generally found on the sandier Pine Barrens soils. Flowers April. Leaves thin but tough once fully expanded; bark smooth, pale gray, but often covered in mosses and lichen. The three-sided nuts are carried in pairs in four-winged, spikey cases and are known as 'mast'. Though a deciduous tree, the dead leaves often hang on through the winter (especially in sheltered woodland) and this can sometimes be a useful identification clue during the colder months (along with the elongated buds).
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American Chestnut Castanea dentata
The American Chestnut once formed significant stands in Eastern North American forests but was almost wiped out by a highly virulent disease and now persists mostly as low, scrubby specimens. However, around Cape May County, a few reasonable-sized trees can be found in private gardens and in the Lake Nummy area of Belleplain State Forest. Flowers June. Male flowers are long, yellowish catkins, while female flowers develop into very spiney cases which carry edible chestnuts.
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Northern Red Oak Quercus rubra
Widespread and probably uncommon as a native tree, but often planted. Flowers May. A medium to large tree with leaves bearing rather spikey tips to the lobes. Leaves similar to Black Oak but hairless, and less shiny above.
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Scarlet Oak Quercus coccinea
Fairly common in woodland in the north of the county but scarce or absent further south. Flowers May. A medium to large tree, but often found as a smaller, scrubby specimen, when the broad, shallowly-lobed leaves are borned in the shade. Leaves more shiny above than Northern Red Oak and typically hairier below than others in the bristle-tipped group.
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Pin Oak Quercus palustris
Not native in our area but occasionally found planted on roadsides or as a relic of an old garden. Very similar to our native Scarlet Oak and often very difficult to tell from it. In general, Pin Oak tends to have lower branches that distinctively slope downward toward the ground; the leaves are more deeply cut, and the leaves have larger tufts of hairs in the vein axils beneath.
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Black Oak Quercus velutina
Not uncommon in pine barren habitats in the north of the county. Flowers May. A medium to large tree with leaves bearing rather spikey tips to the lobes. Leaves similar to Northern Red Oak but hairy below.
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Southern Red Oak Quercus falcata
(Spanish Oak) A southern species, on the north-east edge of its range in South Jersey. Common, both as a garden tree and as a woodland tree, especially in the southern half of the county. Favors dry, sandy sites. Can grow to a large size, often being wider than tall if given enough space. Flowers May. Leaves deeply cut with lobes often slightly curved (falcate); undersides felty with whitish hairs.
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Bear Oak Quercus ilicifolia
(Scrub Oak) A small, scruffy-looking tree or even simply a large shrub, common in dry, poor soils in the Pine Barrens and occasionally elsewhere. Flowers May. Leaves rather variable but usually small and with whitish fuzzy hairs beneath.
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Blackjack Oak Quercus marilandica
An uncommon tree, found scattered through the dry oakwoods in the north of the county. Flowers April.
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Water Oak Quercus nigra
A rare small tree in New Jersey, confined to a handful of wet woods in the south of the state. In Cape May County, known from a small handful of locations around Erma and Cold Spring. Flowers April.
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Willow Oak Quercus phellos
Widespread and fairly common in damp ground throughout the area. Flowers May. An odd-looking oak with leaves that could be passed off as a willow. Bark mid-grey, with relatively few grooves for an oak.
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White Oak Quercus alba
Widespread and very common in all kinds of habitats. Achieves its greatest size in deeper, bottomland soils. Flowers May. The 'classic' oak of the region. Leaves with rather narrow, rounded lobes, usually at about 45 degrees to the main shaft. Bark pale and very flaky with layers bending out from the trunk enough to fit finger tips behind.
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Post Oak Quercus stellata
Widespread and common in a variety of habitats, but seeming to do particularly well in dry, sandy soils, even coastal dunes. Flowers May. Bark typical of the round-tipped oak group, but easily told by its unusual leaves which bear two large, square-ended lobes, one on either side.
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Swamp Chestnut Oak Quercus michauxii
(Basket Oak) An uncommon tree of swampy bottomlands which in southern New Jersey is at the northern edge of its range. Flowers April. Leaves similar to the much more common Chestnut Oak but they tend to be more tapered at the tip and the side lobes are deeper and more fingered (compare with Saul's Oak). Bark is pale and similar to that of White Oak but usually not quite so deeply fissured. Unlike Chestnut Oak, the leaves are densely downy below and this can be detected by touch even after they have fallen from the tree.
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Chestnut Oak Quercus montana
Widespread and common in a variety of soils in both open and mature woodlands. Flowers May. An attractive oak with distinctive leaves, resembling those of the American Chestnut. Note that this species used to be known as Quercus prinus and still appears in many books under that name.
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Dwarf Oak Quercus prinoides
A shrubby plant of the Pine Barrens which barely gets into Cape May in the sandy woods of the north of the county. Flowers May. An easily missed species being low and bushy and generally the same height as surrounding huckleberry plants. Care should be taken in separating this species from young shoots of Chestnut Oak.
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Saul's Oak Quercus x saulii
Oaks are famous amongst botanists for their promiscuity (the downside of liberally scattering masses of pollen to the four winds) and hybrids between certain oak species are not uncommon. Saul's Oak is a hybrid between White Oak and Chestnut Oak and the specimen shown here can be seen at the Villas Wildlife Management Area, where both its parents grow plentifully. As would be expected the tree shows mixed characters of both species, both in its leaves and its bark.
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