Tree · Fagaceae
Chinquapin oak
Quercus muehlenbergii
Chinquapin oak is recorded as native to 30 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 942 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Chinquapin oak at a glance
- Native in
- 942 counties, across 30 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 70 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Chinquapin oak is recorded as native to 30 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 942 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 942 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 29 counties
- Arkansas 63 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Florida 6 counties
- Illinois 100 counties
- Indiana 60 counties
- Iowa 11 counties
- Kansas 43 counties
- Kentucky 102 counties
- Louisiana 13 counties
- Massachusetts 1 county
- Michigan 22 counties
- Minnesota 1 county
- Mississippi 14 counties
- Missouri 113 counties
- Nebraska 4 counties
- New Jersey 2 counties
- New Mexico 2 counties
- New York 17 counties
- North Carolina 10 counties
- Ohio 72 counties
- Oklahoma 63 counties
- Pennsylvania 28 counties
- South Carolina 6 counties
- Tennessee 66 counties
- Texas 17 counties
- Vermont 1 county
- Virginia 45 counties
- West Virginia 25 counties
- Wisconsin 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 70 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 90 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium
- pH range
- 5 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 28 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Fagaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- QUMU
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Quercus muehlenbergii (PLANTS symbol QUMU).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources