NORTHERN RED OAK Quercus rubra L.
(Quercus borealis Michx.)
THE red oak of the North occurs throughout the State. It usually attains a height of about 70 feet and a diameter ranging from 2 to 3 feet, but is sometimes much larger. The forest-grown tree is tall and straight with a clear trunk and narrow crown.
NORTHERN RED OAK
Leaf, one-third natural size. Twig, one-half natural size.
The bark on young stems is smooth, gray to brown on older trees, thick and broken by shallow fissures into regular, flat smooth-surfaced plates.
The leaves are simple, alternate, 5 to 9 inches long, and 4 to 6 inches wide, broader toward the tip, divided into 7 to 9 lobes, each lobe being somewhat coarsely toothed and bristle-tipped, and firm, dull green above, paler below, often turning to a brilliant red after frost. The winter buds are small, light reddish-brown and smooth. The flowers, as in all the oaks, are of two kinds on the same tree, the staminate in long drooping, clustered catkins, opening with the leaves, the female solitary or slightly clustered. The fruit is a large acorn maturing the second year. The nut is from ¾ to 1¾ inches long, blunt-topped, flat at base, with only its base enclosed in the very shallow dark brown cup.
The wood is hard, strong, coarse-grained, with light, reddish-brown heartwood and thin lighter-colored sapwood. It is used for cooperage, interior finish, construction, furniture, and crossties. Because of its average rapid growth, high-grade wood and general freedom from insect and fungus attack, it should be widely planted in the State for timber production and as a shade tree.
This red oak, Quercus shumardii Buckley, is found only in the southern counties along the borders of streams and swamps. Its leaves are dark green and lustrous, paler beneath and have tufts of pale hairs in the angles of the veins. The acorns are long-oval in shape, held in thick saucer-like cups composed of closely appressed hairy scales.
