Quercus × capesii W.Wolf

Sponsor

Kindly sponsored by
The Trees and Shrubs Online Oak Consortium

The International Dendrology Society, The Wynkcoombe Arboretum, and several private individuals

Credits

Allen Coombes & Roderick Cameron (2026)

Recommended citation
Coombes, A. & Cameron, R. (2026), 'Quercus × capesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-x-capesii/). Accessed 2026-06-09.

Family

Fagaceae

Genus

Quercus
Subgen. Quercus, Sect. Lobatae
Q. nigra × Q. phellos

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

hybrid: Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).

References

Credits

Allen Coombes & Roderick Cameron (2026)

Recommended citation
Coombes, A. & Cameron, R. (2026), 'Quercus × capesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-x-capesii/). Accessed 2026-06-09.

A large Quercus × capesii at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in August 2021. It was originally grown as Q. phellos. Image Maricela Rodriguez.

Large trees with drooping lower branches and leaves that are very variable in shape. The leaves can be linear and slightly undulate, to 16 × 2.5 cm, widened in the centre, with a single lobe on one side or obscurely to distinctly 3-lobed above the centre and up to 6 cm wide. The apex is rounded to pointed, ending in a bristle-tip; base tapered. They are glossy dark green above and glabrous on both sides when mature, except for axillary tufts of hairs in some of the vein axils on the lower surface. Linear leaves are rather indistinctly pinnately veined, while lobed leaves have more distinct veins running to the lobes with more distinct axillary hair tufts. Petiole to 1 cm, thinly tomentose at least on younger leaves. (Pers. obs. AJC).

Distribution United States Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, South Carolina

Habitat Forests where the parents occur together.

USDA Hardiness Zone 5-9

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

This hybrid was named from a cultivated plant in Alabama, USA that arose where the parents were grown together. The author, Wolfgang Wolf, was a German-born Benedictine monk and botanist at the St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama. He named this hybrid in honour of Andrew Capesius, a fellow brother at the Abbey who grew it on the Abbey grounds from seed of a cultivated Quercus phellos growing with cultivated Q. nigra. It was described from a tree growing south of St. Bernard College, where it was planted some years before by Dr. Capesius. He also named Q. × bernardiensis after the Abbey (Hansen 2017; Wolf 1945)

Notable specimens in the UK include: Borde Hill, West Sussex: 9 m × 31 cm in 2010; Chevithorne Barton, Devon: 5 m × 11 cm in 2017 (The Tree Register 2025). At Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, two trees received as Q. phellos were 21.9 m × 89.8 cm and 22.2 m × 83.2 cm, respectively, in 2023 (B. Blarke, pers. comm. 2025).

Quercus × capesii bark at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in August 2021. Image Maricela Rodriguez.

Foliage of Quercus × capesii at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in August 2021. The lobing towards the end of the leaf shows the influence of Q. nigra. Image Maricela Rodriguez.

Quercus × capesii foliage at Chevithorne Barton in June 2011. Image Charles Snyers.

Quercus × capesii foliage at Arboretum du Passadou, France, in July 2021. Image Jean-Louis Helardot.

Quercus × capesii foliage at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK, in 2010. Image © Jan De Langhe, Ghent University Botanical Garden, 2010.

Contact the editors at