Click on the images help you identify a chinkapin oak.
Form
Height can reach 80 to 100 feet, with a trunk diameter of 36 inches, though the average size of chinkapin oaks in Minnesota is often smaller. Open-grown trees have short trunks with many branches forming a wide, well-rounded crown. Forest-grown trees are tall with narrow crowns.
Bark
Young bark is thin and light gray. On older trunks, bark breaks into thin, loose, silvery-white flakes.
Leaf
Leaves are simple, alternate on the stem, 4 to 7 inches long, and crowded at the ends of branches. They taper gradually toward the tip and have coarsely pointed teeth. Upper surface is smooth and yellow-green; lower surface is pale and downy. Leaves turn red or brownish orange in autumn.
Fruit (seed)
Acorns are stemless or short-stemmed, usually less than 3/4 inch long, occurring singly or in pairs. Each is enclosed for half or less of its length in a shallow, bowl-shaped cup.
Range
Native to Houston County in far southeastern Minnesota.
Wood uses
Wood is close-grained, heavy, hard, and strong. Not commercially valuable, but sometimes used for railroad ties, construction timbers, and bridge planking.