Chestnut oak (Quercus montana): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Quercus montana Willd. in USDA PLANTS, beech family; Silvics lists it as Quercus prinus L.
Other names	Rock chestnut oak, rock oak and tanbark oak (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	A medium-size tree, usually 20 to 24 m (65 to 80 ft) tall and 51 to 76 cm (20 to 30 in) in diameter at maturity depending on site; maximum dimensions approximately 30 m (100 ft) tall and 183 cm (72 in) across
Longevity, Silvics	Described as a medium-sized, long-lived tree that grows slowly
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	63 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) says chestnut oak is commonly found in the Appalachian region on dry, infertile soils and rocky ridges but reaches best growth on rich well-drained soils along streams. It records a range from southwestern Maine west through New York to extreme southern Ontario, southeastern Michigan, southern Indiana and Illinois, south to northeastern Mississippi, east to central Alabama and Georgia, then north to Delaware, mostly west of the Coastal Plain, with the best growth in the mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee. Annual precipitation for most of the range is between 1,020 and 1,220 mm (40 and 48 in), and the growing season runs from 120 days in New England to 240 days in northern Alabama and Georgia.

Flowers, acorns and growth

Silvics describes chestnut oak as monoecious, with flowers developing in spring at the time of bud-break and leaf development and pollination by wind. It says good acorn crops are infrequent, and that the sweet acorns are an important food for deer, turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks and mice. On growth, the handbook says dominant and codominant chestnut, scarlet, northern red and black oaks have about equal height growth in mixed oak stands, greater than white oaks, and that white oak keeps a better height growth rate beyond about age 60. On comparable West Virginia sites its diameter growth is generally greater than white oak and the same as scarlet oak, hickory and beech, but less than northern red oak, black oak, yellow-poplar and sugar maple. Sawtimber yield on dry slopes and ridges in the southern Appalachians is about 98.0 cubic metres per hectare (7,000 board feet per acre) at age 80.

Roots

The handbook says seedlings first develop a deep taproot and later lose it, and that saplings and larger trees have 6 to 10 main lateral roots extending 3 to 10 m (10 to 33 ft) from the root crown at depths from near the surface to 91 cm (36 in), with a dense mat of fine roots near the surface and a root system covering about five times the crown area. It says the roots are slightly deeper than those of northern red oak but not as deep as those of white oak.

Wood

Silvics says the lumber of chestnut oak is similar to and marketed as white oak. The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) describes the white oak group on the white oak page, and its Table 5-3b has a separate row for chestnut oak, shown below.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.57	8,000	890
At 12% moisture content	0.66	13,300	1,130

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Diseases, insects and damage the handbook names

Silvics (1990) names these agents by the names it used.

Fire and decay. Because it is common on steep slopes and dry sites, the handbook says chestnut oak has a higher incidence of fire damage and associated decay than other oaks in the Appalachians, although its inherent resistance to heartwood decay is greater than that of white, northern red, black or scarlet oak.
Oak wilt. The handbook says chestnut oak is susceptible to most oak diseases, including oak wilt (Ceratocystis fagacearum); the guides oak wilt and oak wilt by state and province cover the disease.
Blights and cankers. It is called particularly susceptible to the twig-blight fungus Diplodia longispora and to a dieback and branch canker caused by Botryodiplodia, and from Virginia northward to stem cankers caused by Nectria galligena and Strumella coryneoidea.
Rots. Spongipellis pachyodon around dead branch stubs in the southeast, and sprout rot caused primarily by Stereum gausapatum, Fistulina hepatica and Armillaria mellea in stump sprouts originating 5 cm (2 in) or more above the ground, with less incidence than in other oaks. In Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois it lists eight more important decay fungi, among them Inonotus andersonii, Wolfiporia cocos and Perenniporia compacta.
Defoliators. Chestnut oak and white oak are the two species most preferred by the gypsy moth, also called the spongy moth (spongy moth page); the spring and fall cankerworms, forest tent caterpillar and half-wing geometer are also named.
Borers and scales. The handbook says chestnut oak is more resistant to wood borers than most oaks but particularly susceptible to ambrosia beetles, especially the Columbian timber beetle, which are particularly damaging to trees weakened by fire or drought. It also names the oak timberworm and carpenterworms, gall wasps, a pit scale and the golden oak scale, which may kill twigs and branches but rarely kill mature trees.
Acorn pests. Acorns are frequently infested by nut weevils, a moth and gall wasps, although one study indicated lower infestation rates than for acorns of other oaks.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.