Sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima)

Description: Introduced to North America as a popular street tree due to its interesting foliage and fruits (acorns).

Habit: Large, deciduous, grows up to 50 ft in height, forms a pyramidal crown that rounds with age.

Leaves: Alternate, simple, lanceolate in shape, 3-7 in long, pinnately veined with a very sharply serrate margin bearing bristle-tipped teeth.

Stems: Slender, red to gray-brown in color with multiple terminal buds; buds are gray-brown, pubescent on the bud scale edges and somewhat pyramidal.

Flowers: Male catkins are golden and pendant, appearing in the spring; female catkins are borne on spikes, appearing with the leaves; small in size; blooms in May.

Fruit and seeds: Acorns are oval in shape, cap covers 1/2 of nut with spreading, curved scales on the involucre; trees produce large amounts of acorns.

Habitat: Native to eastern Asia; grows well in well-drained, acid soil and urban environments.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: American chestnut (Castanea dentata); Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima); Alleghany chinkapin (Castanea pumila); American beech (Fagus grandifolia).

Monitoring and rapid response: For small seedlings, pull or treat leaves with glyphosate. To control larger trees, cut tree and grind stump; girdle; hack and squirt glyphosate; or cut and paint stump with glyphosate. Follow label and state requirements.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health and the Virginia Tech Forest Resources.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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