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Chapman’s oak Quercus chapmanii
Fagaceae
Copyright by: Shirley Denton
General Landscape Uses:
Accent tree in dry soils.
Availability:
Grown by one or two native plant nurseries in South Florida.
Description: Small to medium tree or large shrub with broad-spreading branches and a round-topped crown. Trunks often leaning, to 6 inches in diameter. Bark gray, broken into irregular plates. Leaves semi-deciduous, leathery, usually dark green when mature, about 2-3 inches long.
Dimensions: Typically 15-25 feet in height in South Florida; to 45 feet in Florida. Can be as broad as tall.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range:
Southeastern United States south to Miami-Dade and Collier counties. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website.
Habitats: Scrub, scrubby flatwoods and xeric hammocks.
Soils: Moist to dry, well-drained sandy soils, with or without humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Low to moderate; it can grow in nutrient poor soils or soils with some organic content.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Green.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous. Pollination is by wind.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Brown acorn. Edible.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides significant food and cover for wildlife. Larval host plant for Horace's duskywing (Erynnis horatius), Juvenal's duskywing (Erynnis juvenalois), red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops) and white-M hairstreak (Parrhasius m-album) butterflies; possible larval host fof oak hairstreak (Fixsenia favonius). The acorns are utilized by squirrels.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of suggested ZIP codes from South Florida north to southern Brevard, Osceola, Polk, and Pasco counties.
