Seed ID


Fagaceae, Juglandaceae, Pinaceae, Ulmaceae


Plant Photo Scientific Name Common Name and Description Seed Photo
Post oak Quercus stellata Common Name: Post Oak
Leaves: Deciduous, thick, hard and membranous, usually about 8 cm long and 6 cm broad, obovate to elliptic or obtriangular in outline apices rounded, bases cuneate to cordate, undulately or deeply 2-4 lobed on each side, upper surface is lustrous and glabrous except for the sprinkling of minute stellate hairs, lower surface dull, more densely stellate-pubescent or glabrate, quite glaucous
Flowers: Staminate catkins 5-8 cm long, rather loosely flowered; pistillate catkins 3-10 cm long
Fruit: Solitary or paired, moderate size or rarely large, cups 12-25 mm broad and 18 mm high, cup-shaped or sometimes goblet-shaped, cup scales oblong to triangular-ovate; acorns to 3 cm long and 18 mm broad
Habitat: Dry upland woods, frequently on sandy soil
Range: Central Texas; and north to Kansas, and most of the eastern United States
Group: Dicot
Family: Fagaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - moderate size tree
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Post oak
Pecan Carya illinoinensis Common Name: Pecan
Leaves: Leaves to 5 dm long, leaflets 9-17, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, the margin coarsely and often doubly serrate, to 2 dm long and 75 mm wide, dark yellow-green and glabrous above and pale and glabrous or pubescent beneath, the terminal leaflet only slightly broader than uperr lateral ones
Flowers: Staminate
Fruit: Clusters of 3-11, ovoid to ellipsoid, pointed at apex, rounded at the base
Habitat: Low rich grounds along streams, bottomlands and moist open woodlands
Range: Central and northwest Texas; and most of the eastern United States
Group: Dicot
Family: Juglandaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - about 50 m high, with a massive trunk to 2 m in diameter that is often enlarged and buttressed at the base
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Pecan
Pinon Pinus cembroides Common Name: Mexican Piņon Pine
Leaves: Needles 3, sometimes 2, in a bundle, 25-45 mm long slender, dark-bluish green; bundle sheath about 5 mm long
Flowers: Staminate flowers
Fruit: Cones ovoid, 2.5-4 cm long, reddish-brown, with thick blunt scales; seeds brown, hard shelled, usually about 1 cm long
Habitat: Mesas and mountain slopes
Range: South half of Trans Pecos, Texas; west to southeast Arizona and New Mexico
Group: Gymnosperm
Family: Pinaceae
Growth Habit: Tree - to 10 m or more tall, with a trunk 5 dm or more in diameter
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity:
Native
Pinon
Hackberry Celtis laevigata var. Texana Common Name: Texan Sugarberry, Hackberry, or Palo Blanco
Leaves: Entire to somewhat serrate, thin and membranaceous to coriaceous, uniformly pale-green on both surfaces, with conspicuous veins, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or sometimes ovate-lanceolate, typically long-acuminate apex commonly prolonged and curving at the tip, leaves of fruiting branches less than half as broad as long, 4-10 cm long 15-45 mm broad
Flowers: Appearing with the leaves on the young branchlets; staminate flowers in fascicles towards the base; perfect flowers above, solitary in the axils of the leaves; calyx 5-lobed
Fruit: Drupes subspherical, 5-8 mm in diameter, beakless, orange to brown or red, on pedicels 6-15 mm long; stone 4.5-7 mm long and 5-6 mm broad
Habitat: Sandy loam, rocky soil or alluvial soil along streams in woodlands, palm groves and thickets
Range: In the east two thirds of Texas, west to Hardeman, King and Val Verde counties, south to Cameron county; from Florida to Oklahoma and north to Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas; also in northeast Mexico
Group: Dicot
Family: Ulmaceae
Growth Habit: Tree/Shrub - to 30 m high, with spreading often pendulous branches to form a broad crown
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Hackberry


References:

Thumbnails of the plant photos were copied from those photos produced by the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group which can be found at the Vascular Plant Image Gallery in the Flowering Gateway. When clicking on the thumbnail your are taken to their originals.

Thumbnails and enlargements of seed photos are from my own personal collection.

Some plant information has been taken from these sources:

  • Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas, Donovan S. Correll and Marshall C. Johnston, University of Texas at Dallas, 1979.

  • USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

  • Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of the Southwest: A guide for the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, Robert A. Vines, University of Texas Press, 1994.