Quercus georgiana


Quercus georgiana, the Georgia oak or Stone Mountain oak, is a rare deciduous red oak, native to the southeastern United States.

Distribution

The Georgia oak is native to the southeastern United States, mainly in northern Georgia, but with additional populations in Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It grows on dry granite and sandstone outcrops of slopes of hills at altitude.
The tree was first discovered in 1849 at Stone Mountain, Georgia, where several stands of pure specimens grow along the popular walk-up trail at around 1,300 feet. Georgia oaks are also found at nearby monadnocks, including Panola Mountain and Arabia Mountain in Georgia.

Description

Quercus georgiana is a small tree, often shrubby in the wild, growing to tall. It is classified in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae.

Leaves

The shiny green leaves are long and wide, with a petiole, and five irregular, pointed, bristle-tipped lobes; they are glabrous, except for small but conspicuous tufts of hairs in the vein axils on the underside. The leaves turn dark red to brown in the autumn, stay on the tree throughout the winter, and fall as the new leaves bud in the spring.

Flowering and fruiting

Like all oaks, flowering and leaf-out occur in late spring when all frost danger has passed. The flowers are monoecious catkins which, being self-incompatible, require the presence of another oak for pollination.
The acorns are round, 9–14 mm long, maturing about 18 months after pollination.

Twigs and buds

Twigs are deep red, 1–2 mm in diameter and glabrous. Terminal buds are red-brown, ovoid to subconic, 2.5–5 mm, and glabrous or with scales somewhat ciliate.

Bark

Bark is gray to light brown, scaly.

Uses

It is occasionally cultivated as a specimen or garden tree in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-8. Besides landscape horticulture, the Georgia oak has no commercial uses.