Extension for Real Life

Identifying Oaks Using Acorns

Do you know how many native oak trees can be found in Mississippi? If you guessed 34, you’d be right! A few autumns back, we wrote a blog post about how to identify oak trees using acorns. That post highlighted five different oak trees, so we figured it was time to spotlight five more!

Here are more common oak trees found in the Magnolia State and how to identify the species using its acorns:

1. Willow Oak: The yellowish-brown acorns are small, rounded and typically 1/2 inch long. The cap covers about 1/3 of the nut and is greenish brown in color. Willow Oak acorns take two seasons to mature and typically fall in the fall of the second season.

2. Chinquapin Oak: These acorns are small to medium in size, oval shaped, and dark brown in color. The cap is thin and bowl-shaped, covering about1/4 of the nut. Chinquapin Oak acorns drop every fall.

3. Overcup Oak: Overcup Oak acorns are medium in size and are nearly enclosed by the entire cap. They drop annually in the fall.

4. Post Oak: Post Oak acorns are oval shaped and between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch long. Their cap is bowl shaped and typically covers 1/3 of the nut. They drop from trees each year during fall.

5. Turkey Oak: These acorns are round and about 1/2 of an inch long. Their cap covers about 1/3 of the nut. Acorns drop every two seasons, with them falling in the fall of the second season.

As fall approaches, dig into our Extension Publication, “Know Your Trees.” A fun scavenger hunt with kids or grandkids to identify Mississippi’s oaks would be a great activity!

Our neighbors at University of Tennessee Extension have another great publication on how to identify oaks using leaves, bark, and acorns.