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The Bur Oak, (Quercus macrocarpa), sometimes spelled Burr Oak, is a species of oak
Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
 in the white oak section
List of Quercus species

This is an incomplete list of Quercus species. The genus contains about 400 species....
 Quercus sect. Quercus, native to North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 in the eastern and midwestern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and south-central Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
. This plant is also called Mossycup oak and Mossycup white oak. It occurs from the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
 west to the middle of the Great Plains
Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
, extending to central Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
, across southernmost Manitoba
Manitoba

Manitoba is a prairie provinces in Canada, which has an area of 647,797 square kilometres and a population of 1,207,959 , with more than half located within the Winnipeg Capital Region ....
, Ontario
Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
 and Quebec
Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
, east to the Atlantic Coast in southern New Brunswick
New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only Constitution of Canada bilingual province in the federation. The provincial capital is Fredericton....
, and down the coast to Delaware
Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the East Coast of the United States in the Mid-Atlantic States region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a British nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom Cape Henlopen was originally named....
.






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The Bur Oak, (Quercus macrocarpa), sometimes spelled Burr Oak, is a species of oak
Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
 in the white oak section
List of Quercus species

This is an incomplete list of Quercus species. The genus contains about 400 species....
 Quercus sect. Quercus, native to North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 in the eastern and midwestern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and south-central Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
. This plant is also called Mossycup oak and Mossycup white oak. It occurs from the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
 west to the middle of the Great Plains
Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
, extending to central Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
, across southernmost Manitoba
Manitoba

Manitoba is a prairie provinces in Canada, which has an area of 647,797 square kilometres and a population of 1,207,959 , with more than half located within the Winnipeg Capital Region ....
, Ontario
Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
 and Quebec
Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
, east to the Atlantic Coast in southern New Brunswick
New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only Constitution of Canada bilingual province in the federation. The provincial capital is Fredericton....
, and down the coast to Delaware
Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the East Coast of the United States in the Mid-Atlantic States region of the United States. The state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, a British nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor, after whom Cape Henlopen was originally named....
. Bur Oak is the state tree of Iowa
Iowa

The State of Iowa is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It is bordered by Minnesota to the north, Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, and Missouri to the south....
.

It is a large deciduous
Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
 tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
 growing up to 30 m (100 ft), rarely 37 m (120 ft), in height, and is one the most massive oaks with a trunk diameter of up to 3 m (10 ft); reports of taller trees occur, but have not been verified. It is one of slowest-growing oaks, with growth rate
Growth rate

Growth rate may refer to:*Exponential growth, a growth rate classification*Compound annual growth rate or CAGR, a measure of financial growth...
 of 30 cm (1 ft) per year when young. A 20-year-old tree will be about 6 m (20 ft) tall. It commonly lives to be 200 to 300 years old, and may become significantly older. The bark
BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
 is a medium gray and somewhat rugged.

Quercus Macrocarpa
The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 are 7-15 cm (3-6 in) long and 5-13 cm (2-5 in) broad, variable in shape, with a lobed margin. Most often, the basal 60% is narrower and deeply lobed, while the apical 40% is wider and has shallow lobes or large teeth. The flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are greenish-yellow catkin
Catkin

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollination but sometimes insect pollinated ....
s, produced in the spring. The acorn
Acorn

The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oak tree . It is a nut , containing a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule....
s are very large, 2-5 cm (0.8-2 in) long and 2-4 cm (0.8-1.5 in) broad, with a large cup that wraps much of the way around the nut, with large overlapping scales and often a fringe at the edge of the cup.

Bur Oak is sometimes confused with Overcup oak
Overcup Oak

Quercus lyrata is an oak in the List of Quercus species#Section Quercus group . It is native to lowland wetlands in the Southeastern United States United States, from Delaware and southern Illinois south to northern Florida and southeast Texas....
 and White oak
White oak

Quercus alba, the White Oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak in the family Fagaceae, native to eastern North America, from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas....
.

Ecology

Bur Oak typically grows in the open, away from forest
Forest

File:Stara planina suma.jpgA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on various criteria....
 canopy. For this reason, it is an important tree on the eastern prairie
Prairie

Prairie refers to temperate grasslands of North America. These are areas of low topographic relief that historically supported grasses and herbs, with few or no trees, having a generally mesic habitat climate....
s, where it is often found near waterway
Waterway

A waterway is any navigable body of water. These include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:...
s in more forested areas, where there is a break in the canopy. It is also a fire-resistant tree, and possesses significant drought
Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation ....
 resistance by virtue of a long taproot
Taproot

A plant's taproot is a somewhat straight tapering root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally....
. New trees may, after two to three years of growth, possess a 1-2 m deep taproot. The West Virginia
West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
 state champion Bur Oak has a trunk
Trunk

Trunk may refer to:In biology:*Trunk, torso*Trunk, an Elephant#Trunk*Trunk , a tree's central superstructureIn containers:*Trunk ...
 diameter
Diameter

In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle....
 of almost 3 m (9 feet).

The acorns are the largest of any North American oak, and are an important wildlife
Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
 food; American Black Bear
American black bear

The American Black Bear is the most common bear species native to North America. It lives throughout much of the continent, from northern Alaska south into Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean....
s sometimes tear off branches to get them. However, heavy nut crops are borne only every few years. In this strategy, known as masting, the large seed crop every few years overwhelms the ability of seed predators to eat the acorns, thus ensuring the survival of some seeds. Other wildlife, such as deer
Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order even-toed ungulate are often also called deer....
 and porcupine
Porcupine

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp Spine , or quills, that defend them from predators. They are endemic in both the Old World and the New World....
, eat the leaves, twigs and bark. Cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
 are heavy browsers in some areas. The bur oak is the only known foodplant of Bucculatrix recognita caterpillar
Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous....
s.

Cultivation and uses

Bur oak makes an outstanding ornamental tree. It is one of the most tolerant of urban
Urban area

An urban area is an area with an increased Population density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be city, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlet ....
 conditions of the white oaks, and is one of the fastest-growing of the group. It has been planted in many places north to Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a consolidated city-Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. With an estimated 279,671 municipal residents in 2007 , it is Alaska's largest city and constitutes more than 40 percent of the state's total population....
, Alaska
Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
 and as far south as Edinburg, Texas
Edinburg, Texas

Edinburg is a city in and the county seat of Hidalgo County, Texas, Texas, United States. The population was 48,465 at the 2000 United States Census....
. It withstands chinook
Chinook wind

Chinook winds, often just called chinooks, commonly refers to foehn winds in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges, although the original usage is in reference to wet, warm coastal winds in the Pacific Northwest....
 conditions at Calgary
Calgary

Calgary is the largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and High Plains, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies....
, Alberta
Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
.

The wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
 is high quality, and is almost always marketed as "white oak".

The name sometimes is spelled "burr oak", as for example in Burr Oak State Park
Burr Oak State Park

Burr Oak State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Ohio, located mostly in Morgan County, Ohio, with part extending into Athens County, Ohio....
 in Ohio
Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
, the city of Burr Oak, Kansas
Burr Oak, Kansas

Burr Oak is a city in Jewell County, Kansas, Kansas, United States. The population was 265 at the 2000 United States Census....
, the village of Burr Oak, Michigan
Burr Oak, Michigan

Burr Oak is a village in St. Joseph County, Michigan in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the United States Census, 2000, the village population was 797....
, and in the title Burr Oaks by poet Richard Eberhart
Richard Eberhart

Richard Ghormley Eberhart was an American poetry who published more than a dozen books of poetry and approximately twenty works in total. He received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Selected Poems: 1930-1965 and a National Book Award in 1977 for Collected Poems: 1930-1976....
.

It is also less commonly called "burl oak," as in the Burl Oaks Country Club in Mound, Minnesota
Mound, Minnesota

Mound is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Minnesota, United States. ZIP code: 55364. The population was 9,435 at the 2000 census. Mound is the birth place of the Tonka truck, which is named after Lake Minnetonka....
, and the Burl-Oak Theatre Company in Oakville, Ontario
Oakville, Ontario

Oakville is a town in Regional Municipality of Halton, on Lake Ontario in southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area....


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