Quercus nigra L.

Trees , deciduous or tardily deciduous, to 30 m. Bark grayish black, fissures irregular, shallow, inner bark pinkish. Twigs dark red-brown, 1.5-2.5 mm diam., glabrous. Terminal buds reddish brown, ovoid, 3-6.5 mm, puberulent throughout, occasionally densely pubescent on apical 2/3. Leaves: petiole 2-9 mm, glabrous. Leaf blade distinctly obtrullate, rarely elliptic or merely obovate, widest near apex, 30-120(-160) × 15-60(-70) mm, base attenuate or cuneate, rarely rounded, margins entire with 1 apical awn or with 2-3 shallow lobes and 2-5 awns (leaves on juvenile or 2d-flush growth may be deeply lobed with more awns), apex obtuse to blunt or rounded; surfaces abaxially glabrous except for minute or conspicuous axillary tufts of tomentum, veins rarely raised, adaxially glabrous with secondary veins somewhat impressed. Acorns biennial; cup saucer-shaped, 2.5-5.5 mm high × 10-18 mm wide, covering 1/4 nut or less, outer surface puberulent, inner surface sparsely to uniformly pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute; nut broadly ovoid, 9.5-14 × 9.5-14.5 mm, often faintly striate, glabrate, scar diam. 6-11.5 mm.

Dry woods or borders of streams and bottomlands. The best specimens are found in well-drained, silty clay or loamy soils. Bottomland forests, mesic alluvial sites and occasionally upland slopes where soil remains moist.

The acorns are pounded and leached to remove tannins and then boiled and used as cornmeal.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.