Acorn cup bowl-shaped, covers half to a third of the acorn. Bark brownish, with shallow cracks and rectangular blocks. Post oak gets its name from the pioneers, who used its sturdy wood for fence posts as well as railroad ties. Acorns of virtually all oaks can be eaten, both raw and roasted. They can be ground into flour and grits, which have a nutlike texture.
Trees growing in drought-prone soils grow more slowly than under more fertile conditions.
When the hardest oak was desired, the slowest growing trees were selected.