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Tree identification (oak) ?

17 years ago

I have seen a tree around the Austin area that is clearly an oak but I have not been able to identify it. It seems to be mostly something that builders plant as part of the landscaping, so the only ones I have seen are sort of young. The tree has a relatively well-defined sphere for a canopy, with elongated leaves that are ~4-5 times long as they are wide. The one I saw yesterday was packed with tiny acorns. The acorns seemed to come in clusters of 3 or 4 in a bunch, and were the tiniest acorns I have ever seen -- the largest was 1/2" in size, and most were around 1/4" or so. The acorns were mostly sperical in shape.

My gut feel is that this thing is some sort of live oak, but the southern and escarpment live oaks around Austin look sigificantly different.

Does anyone know what this tree is?

Thanks,

D

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Comments (2)

ladyslppr
17 years ago
If the tree has acorns, then it must be an oak. A more thorough description of the leaves would probably help you get more responses regarding ID. I'd guess that you are seeing Willow Oak, which is very common in landscaping. Willow oak is deciduous and should be losing its leaves sometime soon.

Questions to answer about the leaves include: What shape are the leaves (typical oak leaf shape? oval? heart shaped? lance shape?), what are the edges like (teeth or no teeth? large or small teeth?) are the leaves thick and leathery or thin like a maple leaf?
millefiori
17 years ago
We have lots of willow oak around here. They like wet, acidic soils. Leaves are like those of a willow tree, and branches sort of droop, but they do not weep like a willow. Fall color is typically yellow.

Here is a link to some images:

http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/Woodhtml/WillowOak.html
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