Plant Database

Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.

Quercus chapmanii

Quercus chapmanii Sarg.

Chapman Oak, Chapman's Oak

Fagaceae (Beech Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: QUCH

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub, which grows to 10 feet (3 m), or more, often rhizomatous, or a small tree to 45 feet (13.7 m). Bark grayish-brown with irregular scales. Twigs are grayish-tan to yellowish-tan with patches of fine tomentum, terminal buds are reddish-brown with smooth distal scales. Leaves small smooth petiole 1/8 inch (3 mm) long; leaves are obovate, 1 1/2 - 3 1/2 inches (38 - 89 mm) long and 3/4 - 1 1/2 inches (19 - 38 mm) wide, margins are minutely wavy and many have shallow irregular lobes toward tip of leaf, apex rounded, base cuneate; upper surface is glossy dark green, and light gray or yellow with yellowish pubescence beneath.

Named for Alvan Wenworth Chapman (1809-99), physician and botanist of Apalachicola, Florida, who first distinguished this oak in his Flora of the Southern United States. Chapman oak is abundant along the west coast of Florida from Tampa Bay north to Panama City. The largest known specimen grows in the Ocala National Forest east of Ocala, Florida.