By Gary Wade
University of Georgia
“Bulletproof” is a term for plants that thrive with very little
care in many soils and growing conditions. And overcup oak fits
the definition perfectly.
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This native oak species (Quercus lyrata) is also called
swamp post oak, swamp white oak and water white oak. It’s found
in wet bottom lands of the coastal plain from Delaware to Georgia
and west to Texas. It grows along the Mississippi River flood
plain, too, as far north as Illinois and Indiana.
Despite its tolerance of wet sites, you don’t have to live in a
swamp to enjoy overcup oak. It’s this year’s Georgia Gold Medal
winner partly because it does equally well on dry, upland sites
and adapts to a variety of soils and growing environments. It
thrives in full sun in hardiness zones 5 to 9.
But there’s more. Overcup oak is a tough shade tree for large
landscapes, public parks, golf courses and office parks. While
most oaks have a reputation for being slow growers, this tree
grows fast, particularly when it’s young.
Its initial growth is somewhat pyramidal. Then, with age, it
gradually becomes more rounded. It typically grows 50 feet high
and 50 feet wide under cultivation. But it’s been known to reach
125 feet in the wild.
Named for acorn
The unique shape of the acorns gives the tree its name and helps
distinguish it from other oaks. A warty cap almost completely
covers the nut. The acorns drop to the ground in the fall.
They’re a good food source for wildlife, including squirrels,
deer and turkeys.
At first glance, overcup oak looks a lot like its white oak
cousin. Like the white oak, it has rough-textured, gray-brown
bark, deeply lobed leaves and yellow fall color.
Nursery experts call overcup oak a tough, tolerant tree that’s
perfect for less-than-perfect sites. It thrives in heavy,
compacted clay soils. And it loves the heat and humidity of the
Deep South.
With a life span as long as 400 years, overcup oak provides a
living legacy for many future generations to enjoy. It’s easy to
see why it has emerged as the top tree out there for 2006,
earning the 2006 Georgia Gold Medal for trees.
(Gary Wade is a Cooperative Extension horticulturist with the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.)
