Leaf:  Alternate, simple; overall shape elliptical, blades rather shallowly (less than halfway) divided into 7- to 11 wavy lobes, the lobes having a few irregular bristle-tipped teeth; dull, dark green and smooth or somewhat hairy on the upper surface, paler and smooth or often with tufts of hairs in angles along midvein on the lower surface, 4 to 10 inches (10 to 25 cm) long, 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) broad; leafstalks up to 2 inches long, stout, usually smooth; turning brown or dark to brilliant red in fall after frost.

Flower:  Male and female borne separately, but on the same tree; appearing as the leaves begin to unfold, minute, without petals; the staminate in long, slender, drooping, clustered catkins; the pistillate   solitary or clustered in groups of 2 or 3. 

Fruit:  Large acorns solitary or 2 together, with or without stalks; the nut egg-shaped, up to 1 1/2 inches long, pale brown, covered less than 1/4 by the broad cup; the cup reddish-brown, blunt, with tightly overlapping scales; maturing the second year.

Twig:  Slender, smooth, reddish- brown; pith star-shaped in cross section; leaf scars alternate, but clustered near the tip of the twig, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces.

Bark:  Grayish-brown, reddish-brown, blackish, or dark gray, with dark stripes; rough, furrowed into scaly ridges; inner bark reddish.

Form:  Large tree, 60 to 90 feet (18 to 27 m) tall; trunk diameter 1 to 2 1/2 feet (0.3 to 0.8 m); crown broadly rounded with large spreading branches; trunk straight, columnar, often buttressed at the base.  

Discussion

As lumber, red oak widely used for flooring, furniture, interior finishing, general millwork, agricultural implements, boats, woodenware, handles, boxes, and crates.  It also goes into railroad ties, mine timbers, fence posts, pilings, pulpwood, and fuel. 

In the ecosystem, red oak trees provide cover and nesting sites for wild animals, and their acorns are an important food source for game species such as deer, turkeys and squirrels.  Because they can grow to an old age, forests of oak provide long term protection from soil erosion.  Oaks can act as a nurse crop for trees such as white pine, ash, sugar maple and red maple, which grow well in their shade, thus providing for the continuation of forest cover as the oaks die.  

Native Americans used red oak acorns as a food source after they removed the tannins by boiling the acorns, leaching them with ashes, soaking them for days in water, or burying them over winter.  Some used red oak bark for heart troubles and bronchial infections or as an astringent, disinfectant, and cleanser.

Red oak is a popular shade and street tree, providing shade with the dense foliage.  Red oak grows quickly, transplants easily, is hardy in urban settings, endures cold winters, and provides beauty in every season..  

Distinguishing Characteristics

The acorn with its very shallow, saucer-shaped cap is the best identifying characteristic for the red oak. The leaves are generally more shallowly lobed than those of the black oak, southern red oak, and scarlet red oak. 

Distribution

New Brunswick, across southern Quebec & Ontario, to North central Minnesota, South to Eastern Kansas, East across Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and into the mountains of Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia. Rich, upland woods along riverbanks; on well-drained slopes.

Images

Click each small picture to see a larger image.

October, 2002 RM	October, 2002 ZA	October, 2002 ZA

Location

N 39.27762°    W -89.87971°                                                                          
South side of 200 Block of East Second South Street, Carlinville, Macoupin County, IL.

Copyright

Photos © 2002 Zach Allen, Carlinville High School, linke@carlinvilleschools.net
Photos © 2002 Rachel Mihalek, Carlinville High School, linke@carlinvilleschools.net

References

Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Forest Trees of Illinois, 1996, Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Elbert L. Little, Field Guide to Northern American Trees:  Western Region, 1980 Alfred A. Knopf..

Elbert L. Little, Field Guide to Northern American Trees:  Eastern Region, 1980 Alfred A. Knopf.

George D. Fuller and E. E. Nuuttila, Forest Trees of Illinois, 1955, Illinois Department of Conservation.

William C. Grimm, Familiar Trees of America, 1967, Harper & Row.  

Donald Dickmann and Douglas Lantagne, Department of Forestry Michigan State University http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modft/26139701.html

United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Plant Guide
http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi
     (Fill in scientific name search box "Quercus rubra"; click Quercus rubra L.; click Plant Guide PDF.)

Click here to return to the plant list for Carlinville High School's BIBE identifications.