Plant · P-989

Blackjack Oak

Quercus marilandica

Blackjack oak is a small to medium deciduous oak of dry, poor, sandy or barren ground across the central and southeastern United States, often taking on a scruffy, irregular, rounded crown in the harsh open sites it favours, with leathery, wedge-shaped, three-lobed leaves that hold late into autumn. Its acorns are an important wildlife food and, after leaching their tannins, are edible to people as a ground meal or coffee substitute, while its dense wood makes excellent charcoal and fuel. It thrives on nutritionally poor, dry soil that few other trees tolerate, but grows slowly and is best planted young and left undisturbed.