Bear oak, scrub oak

Quercus nana (Marshall) Sargent

Trees or shrubs , deciduous, to 6 m. Bark dark gray, becoming shallowly fissured and scaly, inner bark pinkish. Twigs brown or yellowish brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., pubescent. Terminal buds dark reddish brown, ovoid, 2-4.5 mm, apex puberulent. Leaves: petiole (8-)10-25 mm, pubescent. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 50-120 × 30-90 mm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins with 3-7 acute lobes separated by shallow sinuses and 5-14 awns, apex acute; surfaces abaxially pale green to gray, tomentose, adaxially glossy dark green, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces. Acorns biennial; cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 5-9 mm high × 10.5-17 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/3(-1/2) nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut ovoid to subglobose, 9.5-16 × 8-11 mm, striate, puberulent, scar diam. 4.8-7 mm. 2 n = 24.

Flowering spring. Dry, sandy soils and open rocky outcrops; 0-1500 m; Conn., Del., Maine, Md., Mass., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Pa., R.I., Vt., Va., W.Va.

Quercus ilicifolia reportedly hybridizes with Q . coccinea , Q . falcata , Q . imbricaria , Q . marilandica , Q . phellos , Q . rubra , and Q . velutina .

The Iroquois considered Quercus ilicifolia very helpful in treating gynecological problems (D. E. Moerman 1986).