Red Oak.
Habitat and Range.—Growing impartially in a great variety of soils, but not on wet lands.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to divide west of Lake Superior.
Maine,—common, at least south of the central portions; New Hampshire,—extending into Coos county, far north of the White mountains; Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,—common; probably in most parts of New England the most common of the genus; found higher up the slopes of mountains than the white oak.
South to Tennessee, Virginia, and along mountain ranges to Georgia; reported from Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.
Habit.—The largest of the New England oaks, 50-85 feet high, with a diameter of 2-6 feet above the swell of the roots; occasionally attaining greater dimensions; trunk usually continuous to the top of the tree, often heavily buttressed; point of branching higher than in the white oak; branches large, less contorted, and rising at a sharper angle, the lower sometimes horizontal; branchlets rather slender; head extremely variable, in old trees with ample space for growth, open, well-proportioned, and imposing; sometimes oblong in outline, wider near the top, and sometimes symmetrically rounded, not so broad, however, as the head of the white oak; conspicuous in summer by its bright green, abundant foliage, which turns to dull purplish-red in autumn.
Bark.—Bark of trunk and lower parts of branches in old trees dark gray, firmly, coarsely, and rather regularly ridged, smooth elsewhere; in young trees greenish mottled gray, smooth throughout; season's shoots at first green, taking a reddish tinge in autumn, marked with pale, scattered dots.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds ovate, conical, sharp-pointed. Leaves simple, alternate, 4-8 inches long, 3-5 inches broad, bright green above, paler beneath, dull brown in autumn; outline oval or obovate, sometimes scarcely distinguishable by the character of its lobing from Q. tinctoria; in the typical form, lobes broadly triangular or oblong, with parallel sides bristle-pointed; leafstalks short; stipules linear, soon falling.
Inflorescence.—Earliest of the oaks, appearing in late April or early May, when the leaves are half-grown; sterile catkins 3-5 inches long; calyx mostly 4-lobed; lobes rounded; stamens mostly 4; anthers yellow: pistillate flowers short-stemmed; calyx lobes mostly 3 or 4; stigmas long, spreading.
Fruit.—Maturing in the second year, single or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked: cup sometimes turbinate, usually saucer-shaped with a flat or rounded base, often contracted at the opening and surmounted by a kind of border; scales closely imbricated, reddish-brown, more or less downy, somewhat glossy, triangular-acute to obtuse, pubescent: acorn nearly cylindrical or ovoid, tapering to a broad, rounded top.