27 September 2022.
Monroe County, Missouri, United States
Locality: Roadside Park on the south side of US Highway 24, approximately 0.2 kilometers west of junction with Monroe County Roads 235/228.
Coordinates: 39.4714, -92.0653
(Map it)
Elevation: 222m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: As a primary component of the woodland overstory, most trees are growing in full sun. Even so, juvenile trees can be found in part shade to shade of the woodland understory as well. The site is generally well drained, with a nearby creek that occasionally overflows. This is a deciduous forest that is generally mesic to mesic-dry. The underlying geology of this area is of Middle Pennsylvanian-Middle Series-Desmonian Stage and comprised of Cherokee Group- Cabaniss Subgroup- (200 ft. max) cyclic deposits of shale, sandstone, siltstone, clay and limestone with seven significant coal beds. Cherokee Group- Krebs Subgroup-(110 ft. max) cyclic deposits of predominantly shale and sandstone with limestone, siltstone and two significant coal beds. (Source: USGS Missouri Geologic Map Data). The surface soil profile of this area is Piopolis silty clay loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes, frequently flooded. The Piopolis series consists of very deep, poorly drained or very poorly drained soils formed in silty alluvium on flood plains or flood-plain steps within lake plains. Flooding from stream overflow is common during late winter and spring. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey).
Number of plants sampled: 5
Associated species: Carya glabra; Carya cordiformis; Quercus muehlenbergii; Ulmus americana; Viburnum prunifolium; Celtis occidentalis; Toxicodendron radicans; Acer saccharum; Parthenocissus quinquefolia; Ribes sp.; Quercus alba; Juglans cinerea; Vitis sp.; Symphoricarpos orbiculatus; Prunus serotina; Fraxinus americana; Impatiens pallida; Ageratina altissima; Symphyotrichum sp.
Comment: This species is a large, deciduous, single-stemmed tree with a coarse rounded habit. Several mature fruiting specimens ranged from 15-30 meters tall x 15-30 meters wide. The bark of mature trees is brown, gray-brown, or gray, rough-textured, and developing either irregular furrows with flat ridges or large flaky scales. Leave are alternate and simple, ranging from 10-18 cm long and 3.0-15 cm wide. They are usually obovate (less often broadly elliptic) with 4-8 pairs of lobes along their margins. These lobes are shallow to moderately deep and they are either rounded or taper to blunt tips. The sinuses between the lobes are concave or bluntly cleft. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous, while the lower surface is whitish green and densely covered with short white hairs. The leaf texture is leathery and stiff. Usually, 1-2 acorns, 1.5-3.0 cm long, develop on short pedicels near the tip of a long peduncle that is about 3.5-10 cm long. The cup of a mature acorn is tan-colored or light gray, while its body is brown; the cup extends to about one-third of the length of an acorn. This species is scattered and frequent throughout the park and the extensive woodlands beyond.
Collector(s):