Blackjack Oak, Quercus marilandica

Blackjack Oaks occur on the most challenging sites at the PGT. This morning I photographed this tree at The Point; a high rocky cap along Hillers Creek. It was growing out of what looks to be solid rock. I don’t see how it can get nutrients and water.

As Don Kurz writes in “Trees of Missouri, it has “a tendency to retain dead branches on the mid to lower part of the trunk.” That gives it a messy appearance, but I think pruning the dead branches away might ruin the trees character.