Quercus texana Buckley

The species has long been considered a southern lookalike of Quercus palustris, but it is now competing with that more popular red oak species in the nursery trade and collections, where its more amenable size is an asset, as is its hardiness. It is valued most, however, for its foliage, which is bronze-coloured when young in summer, and in autumn takes on shades of deep red and plum. It colours late, sometimes too late, and in colder climates its best colours may not develop before ‘a hard freeze toasts the leaves’ (Sternberg 2004).

Quercus texana is native to the lower Mississippi Valley from southern Illinois to east Texas, and east to central Alabama (Lance 2004). It occurs in bottomlands and alluvial floodplains, growing on wet clay soils along streams, in sites typically subject to periodic overflow during winter months (Miller & Lamb 1985). It grows very well, however, when planted on higher ground, according to Sternberg (2004).

Establishing a date of introduction is not easy, given the nomenclatural entanglements surrounding this species (see Taxonomic Note). Dirr (2009) proposes 1923, but with no further details. The species was not described till 1927, which of course does not preclude a prior introduction to cultivation, and in fact a plant accessioned in 1910 at the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin, Ireland, apparently corresponds to this taxon (National Botanic Gardens 2025). It reached 16 m × 40 cm dbh in 2012 (The Tree Register 2025). The largest tree recorded in the UK grows at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, accessioned in 1976 and measuring 20 m × 60 cm in 2017 (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 2025). A tree of similar girth grows at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, planted in 1986, reaching 15 m × 60 cm in 2022 (The Tree Register 2025). It is widely cultivated in specialist collections in the UK and Europe. In the US, two trees planted in 1935 can be found at the Morris Arboretum, Pennsylvania (Morris Arboretum 2025). The National Champion in the USA stands in Desha Co., Arkansas, and measured 30.5 m × 221 cm dbh in 2021 (National Champion Tree Program 2025). A taller tree, reaching 34.4 m, used to grow in Vernon, Georgia, according to Dirr (2009).

Though The Hillier Manual (Edwards & Marshall 2019) warns that Quercus texana does not tolerate lime, Dirr asserts it withstands a greater diversity of soil pH than Q. shumardii. Other advantages vis-à-vis Shumard Oak include faster growth, better structure with a central leader that does not fork, and a capacity to continue to grow in summer when it is hot and to develop a fuller canopy at an early age. These advantages, together with superior adaptability, the attractive colouration on new growth and autumnal foliage, and mostly clean leaf drop in autumn, have helped it replace, according to Dirr, Q. palutstris and Q. shumardii as the most popular choice for landscape planting in Zones 7 to 9. Miller and Lamb (1985) describe it as ‘intolerant’ in habitat, only surviving and growing rapidly in openings. One salient characteristic all agree on is that it tolerates seasonal flooding. This was confirmed in a study by Anderson and Pezeshki (1999), who found that seedlings subjected to intermittent flooding under greenhouse conditions showed significantly decreased stomatal conductance and net photosynthetic rate, but recovered rapidly following drainage. Their resilience under flooding was also proven at Grigadale Arboretum in Argentina, where two trees, planted near a lake in 1997, spent eight whole months completely under water in 2002 and again in 2014 for a shorter period, and yet showed no sign of damage (Cameron 2015).

The species was not described till 1927, when E.J.Palmer named Quercus nuttallii in honour of Thomas Nutall, the naturalist who first collected it. Palmer published the name at the end of a lengthy article commemorating Nuttall’s journey to the Territory of Arkansas in 1818–1819 (Palmer 1927). Nuttall was a British printer and naturalist who became an important botanist in the United States and a pioneer of American palaeontology. He joined a number of scientific expeditions between 1811 and 1834, including the journey to the Territory of Arkansas, which Palmer describes in detail, drawing attention to the hardships endured by Nuttall and the importance of his scientific observations. Nuttall gained a reputation as an eccentric due to the tales of his single-minded pursuit of natural history, oblivious to personal risk. Legend has it that, though he carried a rifle to defend himself against the dangers of travelling in Indian country, he rendered it useless by blocking it with dirt and stones as a result of using it to dig up plants (Natural History Museum (BM) 2025). In the account of his journey (Nuttall 1821), Nuttall mentioned finding a red oak he identified as Q. coccinea. Palmer deduced it could not be that, as the species does not occur in that habitat, but was instead a new species, which he described and named in his honour, similar to Q. palustris but with larger leaves of distinctly different shape, and larger acorns. C.H. Muller considered it should be classified as a form of Q. palustris, writing that ‘The fruit characters that distinguish the form are very striking, but, unfortunately, almost every species in the Eastern United States exhibits similar fructal polymorphism’. He expressed this opinion as part of a remarkable diatribe against the splitting inclination in oak taxonomy, especially those who name hybrids based on miscellaneous variations: ‘Taxonomy can hardly be called upon to furnish names for all the genetic segregates of a highly heterozygous oak population’ (Muller 1942). The oak described by Palmer, however, has been universally accepted as a distinct species. It is regrettable that, due to confusion caused by Buckley and a misguided attempt to solve it (see Taxonomic note), Nuttall is no longer memorialised in the accepted name of this oak. The common name Nuttall Oak remains in common use, especially in the nursery trade, where die-hards like Dirr and Sternberg continue to renege – incorrectly and with little hope of satisfaction, alas – against the name Q. texana, preferring Q. nuttallii.