Will DCO hybrid with white oak?

[Brush farmer]

I'm looking to add some DCO this fall and next spring. I'm wondering about them forming hybrids with the native white oaks. According to some range maps DCO should be native to my area, others show a void in my area. I never plant anything that I think might damage the natural habitat. Should I be worried that hybrid offspring might impact the natural white oak reproduction? Is this even a concern?

 

[Shedder]

Funny you should ask as this just turned up on the

https://www.facebook.com/groups/307577116010963/

International oaks site above.

Quercus x faxonii (Faxon's oak)
Port Franks, Ontario, Canada.

"The leaves are incredibly variable. All pictures in this post are from the same tree!

It exists! I have been looking for Faxon's oak in Ontario for years, and I finally discovered one growing in the dunes of Port Franks along Lake Huron. There are old records of this hybrid oak occuring on Martha's Vineyard off Cape Cod, but I can't find any records for it in Ontario. This oak is a naturally occuring hybrid between Q. prinoides (dwarf chinquapin) and Q. alba (white oak). The specimen I found today is only 2 metres tall and covered with acorns. Some of the leaves are starting to turn red like white oak does. I will visit it later this fall to see how its full fall colour develops. I suspect that it will be quite red. The leaf shape closely resembles Quercus x saulli (Saul's oak), which is a hybrid between Q. prinus (chestnut oak) and Q. alba (white oak)."

 

[Shedder]

I'm looking to add some DCO this fall and next spring. I'm wondering about them forming hybrids with the native white oaks. According to some range maps DCO should be native to my area, others show a void in my area. I never plant anything that I think might damage the natural habitat. Should I be worried that hybrid offspring might impact the natural white oak reproduction? Is this even a concern?

While oaks hybridize on a fairly regular basis, I would not worry about native oaks. They have a little understood way of maintaining genetic integrity, in spite of that.

 

[Brush farmer]

Thanks Shedder. I had found references to the Faxon Oak but not many details beyond that. I suppose I should be confident in the fact that both DCO and white oak have shared habitat forever yet both are still here and distinct. I am just very careful about introducing anything that I don't already have. This isn't exactly like the circumstances behind some of the disasterous introductions we all know about. This is more along the lines of planting a tree in a pocket where it is rare within its natural range.