burr oak (Plants of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Grounds, Chicago, Illinois)

burr oak

Quercus macrocarpa

Summary ⁷

Quercus macrocarpa, the Bur oak, sometimes spelled Burr oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section Quercus sect. Quercus, native to North America in the eastern and midwestern United States and south-central Canada. This plant is also called Mossycup oak and Mossycup white oak.

Taxon biology ⁸

Fagaceae -- Beech family

Paul S. Johnson

Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), also known as blue oak, mossy-overcup oak, mossy-overcup oak, and scrub oak, has the largest acorns of all native oaks and is very drought resistant. It grows slowly on dry uplands and sandy plains but is also found on fertile limestone soils and moist bottomlands in mixture with other hardwoods. In the west, it is a pioneer tree invading prairie grasslands, and it is planted frequently in shelterbelts. The acorns become an important source of food to wildlife. The wood is commercially valuable and marketed as white oak. The comparative ease with which bur oak can be grown makes it a fine tree for streets or lawns.

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