Plant · P-570

Chinkapin Oak

Quercus muehlenbergii

Chinkapin Oak (also spelled chinquapin, and sold as yellow chestnut oak for its chestnut-like leaves) is a mast tree whose acorns are sweet enough to eat straight off the ground, with roughly a tenth of the tannin of a red oak's - deer, bear, squirrels and mice all depend on the crop in a good year. It is one of the few large nut trees that actually prefers thin, alkaline, limestone-derived ground, thriving on rocky outcrops where richer soil would carry a different tree. The wood is heavy, hard and durable, used for fencing and fuel, and the tree coppices and resprouts readily after damage. It grows fairly fast for an oak and tolerates both shade and drought once established, but is intolerant of having its roots disturbed, so it needs to go into its permanent spot while young.