Missouri Department of Conservation

Red Oaks

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Red Oaks

Red oaks get their names from the fall coloration they display; the wood of red oaks is also often tinged with a reddish color.

Red Oaks Also Known as "Black Oaks"

  • Acorns mature in the fall of their second season.
  • Leaf lobes are bristle-tipped; if unlobed, the leaf terminates in a bristle.
  • The inside of the acorn cup has fine, silky hairs.
  • The wood is not water-tight, but is used for lumber, flooring, ties and furniture.
  • The name "red oak" refers probably to the red fall coloration, which several members may display in some years.
  • Bark of most of the red oaks is dark gray, brown or black.

 

Red Oaks With Entire, Unlobed Leaves

  • Entire leaves have smooth margins, lacking lobes and serrations.
  • The three oak species of this group have acorns that mature in the second year after fertilization.
  • Their woods are not leakproof.

Related Information

  • Black OakFamed botanical author Donald Culross Peattie admitted that, when judged by ornamental and lumbering value, black oak lacks "benign grace" and "seems to have few civic or domestic associations." But, he pointed out, "as a forest tree, as part of the hard, untamed, original sylva, it has a rough, unbending grandeur of its own."
  • Blackjack Oak

    Blackjack oak is a common timber tree in forests that have been badly burned or are growing on the poorest soils. Considered a relatively worthless tree, this oak is often one of the first trees to be used as fuel, which prevents more glorious trees from such destruction.

  • Cherrybark OakThe bark of this tree, as the name suggests, looks like the bark of a cherry tree. The species name starts to make sense when you hold one of the leaves with the leaf stalk upward: The pointed lobes make the leaf resemble an outline of a Chinese pagoda. Look for it in Missouri's Bootheel counties.
  • Northern Red Oak

    This handsome tree is a favorite for planting in streets and parks and is one of the most widespread and commercially important of the oaks. The lumber industry and many field guides separate oak trees into two broad groups: the "white oaks" and the "red oaks." This species typifies the latter.

  • Nuttall's OakThe name of this tree honors Thomas Nuttall, a biologist who traveled extensively in North America, including the western United States up the Missouri only five years after Lewis and Clark's trip. Because most of Lewis and Clark's biological specimens were lost, Nuttall collected many plants that were completely new to science. Nuttall also wrote one of the first complete bird manuals of North America.
  • Pin Oak

    Pin oak is one of the easiest trees to recognize by its shape alone: It has a tall, straight trunk, an overall pyramidal or conical shape and, most notably, the branches on the lower third of the tree angle downward. Pin oak grows faster than other oaks and is used extensively for street and yard planting.

  • Scarlet Oak

    Scarlet oak is a common tree of the Missouri Ozarks, occupying much the same area that shortleaf pine used to dominate before it was so extensively cut prior to the 1920s.

  • Shingle Oak

    Shingle oak got its name because the naturalist who discovered it noticed that French colonists in Illinois were using it to make roofing shingles. You can identify shingle oak by its leaves, which lack lobes or teeth—they look like laurel (or bay) leaves—but only oak trees bear acorns!

  • Shumard Oak

    Although sometimes only recognized by trained botanists, Shumard oak is, as Donald Culross Peattie notes, "worthy of recognition by name": it can rise to 100 feet in height and gain a trunk diameter of 5 feet, with wide-spreading, "muscular" boughs.

  • Southern Red Oak (Spanish Oak)This tree has two names as well as two leaf types! No matter whether you call it southern red oak or Spanish oak, you can recognize it by its distinctive narrow, three-lobed leaves, which grow alongside similar leaves with 5 to 7, often sickle-shaped lobes. In Missouri, this tree occurs natively only in our southernmost counties.
  • Water OakIts range, and the interesting (and variable) shapes of the leaves easily identify water oak. This species, like many plants and animals that require wet lowland forests, has been declining in our state due to extensive clearing, rowcropping, ditching and draining in in our Bootheel counties.
  • Willow Oak

    The name "willow oak" describes the shape of the leaves, which are narrow, pointed and "willowlike," as well as its affinity to wet ground. It is unrelated to true willows, however: One look at its acorns proves that it is a true oak! In Missouri, willow oak is only found natively in our southeastern counties.

  • Northern Red Oak

    This handsome tree is a favorite for planting in streets and parks and is one of the most widespread and commercially important of the oaks. The lumber industry and many field guides separate oak trees into two broad groups: the "white oaks" and the "red oaks." This species typifies the latter.

Other Content You May Like

  • Black LocustThis tree, a member of the bean family, is easy to appreciate in May and June, when its showy white clusters of flowers perfume the breeze with their sweet smell. Bees like the flowers, too.
  • Canadian HemlockAlso called eastern hemlock, this tree is encountered only in landscaping in our state. But based on one instance in Oregon County, we know it can reproduce and spread here on its own. So if you find it on a hike, it was almost certainly planted there at some point. Look around for a cistern, old home foundation and other persisting garden plants nearby.
  • Bur OakAmong the many majestic American oaks with legendary and historic value, McBaine, Missouri's state champion bur oak has a 91-inch-diameter trunk, is over three hundred years old, and survived the flood of 1993. Recently, specialists have been fertilizing and aerating its soil, carefully pruning it, and taking twig samples in order to preserve its extraordinary genetic line.
  • SycamoreThe white, smooth-looking limbs of this giant tree rise over countless streams and river banks—as well as over sidewalks and city streets. The leaves, which somewhat resemble those of maples, can reach remarkably large sizes.
  • Black OakFamed botanical author Donald Culross Peattie admitted that, when judged by ornamental and lumbering value, black oak lacks "benign grace" and "seems to have few civic or domestic associations." But, he pointed out, "as a forest tree, as part of the hard, untamed, original sylva, it has a rough, unbending grandeur of its own."

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