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Oak Tree
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Red Oak Tree

Red Oak trees are a group of trees belonging to the section Lobatae in the genus Quercus. The oak genus Quercus is a very broad genus with over 500 different species of oak, and is therefore divided into five sections to become more manageable. Red Oaks are native to the Americas. They produce long styles and their acorns need 18 months to mature. The acorns are protected by a shell that is woolly inside. The Red Oak acorns taste very bitter.

Southern Red Oak Tree (Quercus falcata), Northern Red Oak Tree (Quercus rubra), Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea), Pin Oak (Quercus palustris), Water Oak (Quercus nigra) and Black Oak (Quercus velutina) are just a few examples of commonly known red oak species. 

Southern Red Oak Tree

The Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata) is also commonly known as Spanish Oak. Its native region is south-eastern United States where it inhabits dry upland environments. It can grow in very sandy soils. The northernmost part of its range is Long Island, New York, while the southernmost part is central Florida. The Southern Red Oak range extends westwards into Missouri and Texas. Wood from the Southern Red Oak Tree is often marketed together with several other similar red oak species and simply referred to as “red oak timber”. Southern Red Oak timber is hard and coarse-grained and commonly used in flooring and furniture. The bark of the Southern Red Oak Tree can be used to extract tannins.

The Southern Red Oak tree is a deciduous tree, which means that is shed its foliage each fall. The leaves are from 10 to 30 centimetres long and can reach a width of 16 centimetres. The leaf colour is green and the leaves are usually very shiny on the upper side. The underside is hairy and rusty. You can distinguish the Southern Red Oak from other similar oak species by looking at the shape of the leaves. A Southern Red Oak leaf has 3 to 5 bristle-tipped lobes that tend to be sharply pointed and frequently curved. The base of the leaf is rounded and the central leaf lobe is always slim and elongated. 

Northern Red Oak Tree

The Northern Red Oak Tree (Quercus rubra) is native to southeast Canada and northeast United States. Its geographical range begins around the northern end of the Great Lakes and proceeds eastwards into Nova Scotia. The southernmost parts of the Northern Red Oak Tree are located in Georgia and Alabama, while the westernmost region is eastern Kansas. The Northern Red Oak Tree likes medium moist hills and valleys with nutritious, somewhat acidic, soil.

The Northern Red Oak Tree can be distinguished on its bark. If you look at a Northern Red Oak Tree, you will notice bark ridges that seem to display shiny stripes down the centre. Only a few other oak species have this type of bark, and it is only in the Northern Red Oak Tree that the striping continues all the way down. In the other oak species, the striping is limited to the upper parts of the tree.

 

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Copyright 2005 oak-tree.info. Pictures based on a picture by wikipedia user MPF
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red oak tree