General Landscape Uses:
Shade tree.
Availability:
Commonly available at native plant nurseries in northeast and central Florida.
Description: Medium to large deciduous tree 60-120 feet tall. Shiny, dark green leaves 3-6 inches long with 7 or more bristle-tipped deep lobes.
Dimensions: Typically 120 feet in height, taller than broad. Up to 133 feet in height in north Florida.
Growth Rate: Moderately fast.
Range:
Central and eastern United States from Illinois to New York south to Texas and Citrus, Marion, and Volusia counties. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Moist woodlands.
Soils: Moist to dry, well-drained sandy soils, with or without humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Low to moderate; it can grow in nutrient poor soils or soils with some organic content.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Characteristics: Conspicuous catkins 5-7 inches long.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Acorn up to one inch long.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for Horace's dusky wing (Erynnis horactius), and white-M hairstreak (Parrhasius m-album) butterflies.
Comments: We have been adding data for this species for central and northern Florida and welcome any feedback or review. If you would like to contribute information or images, please contact George Gann via the IRC staff page.
