Blackjack oak
{{Taxobox
color = lightgreen | name = Blackjack Oak | regnum = Plantae | divisio = Magnoliophyta | classis = Magnoliopsida | ordo = Fagales | familia = Fagaceae | genus = Quercus | species = Q. marilandica | binomial = Quercus marilandica | binomial_authority = Muenchh.
The Blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica) is a small oak, one of the red oak group but fairly isolated from the others. Its name derives from the shape of the leaves, which flare from a tapered base to a broad three-lobed shape with only shallow indentations. The leaves are typically dark green and glossy, but also pubescent underneath and are marcescent.
The acorn is very small, and, like other red oaks, takes 18 months to mature.
The Blackjack oak grows in poor, thin, dry, rocky or sandy soils where few other woody plants can thrive. It does not have the beautiful form of many oaks, but is nonetheless a valuable tree for growing in problem sites. It is sometimes an understory tree in pine stands on sandy knolls in the southeastern US. Blackjack oak ranges from southern New York (Long Island) south to Georgia and northern Florida, and west to southern Iowa and south central Texas. In northern Texas, central Oklahoma, into Kansas, it forms the "Cross Timbers" forests with Post oak.UsesThe wood is very dense, so much so that it will rapidly dull chainsaws. The density of the wood causes a very hot flame when burnt, making Blackjack oak wood the preferred fuel for slow-cooked (Carolina style) pork barbecues and a good heat source for wood-burning stoves but not desirable in wood fireplaces because the heat causes "popping", increasing the risk of external fires. Family get-togethers at holiday time are preceded by all-night cooking of whole hogs, basted with family recipe sauces, over coals of blackjack oak, which imparts its own flavor to the meat.*Flora of North America - Quercus marilandica
*Quercus marilandica images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
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