The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Quercus havardii
Also called Harvard Oak, Shinnery Oak, Shin Oak, Havard Shinnery Oak, Havard's Oak, Havard's Shinnery Oak, Sand Shinnery Oak
Quercus havardii (common names include shinnery oak, shin oak and Havard oak) is a deciduous, low-growing, thicket-forming shrub that occupies some two million to three million hectares (7,700 to 11,600 square miles) in the southern Great Plains of North America. Clones may reach hundreds to thousands of years old, although aboveground stems typically live only 11 to 15 years. Shinnery oak stems are usually 1 to 2 metres (3 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 7 inches) tall and codominate the plant community with mid- and tall-grasses, which are usually taller than the oaks.
The specific epithet honors U.S. Army surgeon and botanist Valery Havard, who contributed much to the knowledge of southwestern plants. The word "shinnery" seems to be derived from chêne (French for oak), and not from the height of the plant.
Because shinnery oak thrives in a harsh environment, it functions as a sand dune stabilizer, protecting sandy soils from wind erosion. It also provides diverse wildlife species cover and food. Collared peccaries, lesser prairie-chickens, northern bobwhites, and many other wildlife species eat shinnery oak acorns. Deer, pronghorn, and southern plains woodrats browse shinnery oak. Shinnery oak habitats are used by black-tailed jackrabbits, desert cottontails, eastern cottontails, wild turkeys, western box turtles, a diversity of arthropods, approximately 25 snake species, and approximately 10 lizard species, including the endangered sand dune lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus).
Quercus acatenangensis · Mapleleaf oak · Quercus acherdophylla · Quercus acrodonta · Quercus aculcingensis · Red Wood Evergreen Oak · Quercus acutangula · Quercus acutifolia · Sawtooth oak · Quercus aerea · African Oak · Quercus affinis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Quercus havardii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
