dwarf chinquapin oak, Quercus prinoides

From these tiny female flowers the acorns that form a great oak will grow. Not! Dwarf chinquapin oak defies the oak stereotype. They grow to at most twenty feet tall. In my experience they've hardly been taller than me. They do grow in clones, spreading by their roots, to form a much larger plant than meets your eye. The small acorns are said to be sweet, but that's a relative matter. They will certainly never rival their namesake chinquapins for sweetness or flavor. Maybe they were named after chinquapins because those are also small trees, much smaller than their chestnut relatives. Dwarf chinquapin oak forms thickets in borders and otherwise open areas in AL, AR, CT, DE, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI(S), TN, VA, VT, WI, WV, and ON. Ives Fen Preserve, Lenawee Co MI, 5/22/13. Beech family, Fagaceae.