This Week's Mystery Plant

This is a native "scrub" oak species which is common in every county of South Carolina's coastal plain. It is a standard resident of high and dry sandy places, commonly seen on upland ridges and around the edges of some Carolina bays. It is probably most common and abundant within the sandhill region of the state, stretching from Aiken County to the Pee Dee area. I first learned this tree while an undergraduate student of Dr. Wade Batson, the "patron saint" of South Carolina botany, who introduced it to me and my USC "Fall Flora" classmates, during one of our fabled field trips, at what is now known as Peach Tree Rock Nature Conservancy Preserve, in Lexington County. Thousands of people driving along I-20 see this plant every day…but it often remains a mystery.

It occurs from southeastern Virginia (barely) all the way to eastern Louisiana (barely), and well into Florida. The ecologists say that this is a "shade-intolerant" species, meaning that its seeds cannot sprout in shaded conditions. This species really loves the sun. Interestingly, though, when you find a seedling on a bright day in the summertime, its leaves will generally be held at a vertical angle, as even sun-loving plants can get burned. The mature leaves are smooth and glossy, usually with three prominent, bristled lobes, and resembling a turkey's foot (to some). In autumn, the leaves turn a bright, reddish-brown, seemingly all at once, and this is when the plants are the most conspicuous, visually. The trees themselves tend to be scrubby and short. The bark is usually dark, rough, and very chunky. This species is not of much commercial use, due to its gnarly stature.

The biology of this plant is very interesting. Whenever a fire goes through a stand of this species, the tops invariably die, but the individuals will re-sprout vigorously from the base. However, with repeated fires, this oak will be killed. It stands to reason that the huge numbers of this tree that we see in our longleaf pine ecosystems now, especially in the midlands, is in response to modern, active fire suppression, which has very much rearranged the natural makeup of our sandhills. Hmmm. (Photo by John Nelson.)

Photo by John Nelson