Red oak

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Red oak buds

Red oak pistillate flowers

Red oak autumn habit

Red oak staminate flowers

Red oak leaf

Red oak buds

Red oak leaf

Red oak

Red oak

Red oak leaf

Red oak flowers

Red oak fruit

Red oak bark

Red oak catkins

Red oak acorns

Red oak pistillate flowers

Morphology

Trunk

Large, 2-4 feet in diameter, lower half usually without branches; crown high, broad, rounded; branches few, large, wide-spreading; bark gray or dark brown; furrows shallow or deep; ridges firm, broad; inner bark light red.

Twigs

Slender, stiff, green to reddish-brown to dark brown; terminal bud 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, egg-shaped, glabrous, reddish-brown, tip pointed; lateral buds clustered near tip; leaf scars half-round; bundle scars 10 or more.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous, egg-shaped, 5 to 10 inches long, 2.4 to 5.5 inches wide, 5-11-lobed, firm; lobes oblong, tapering from broad bases to pointed tips; largest lobes near middle of leaf; teeth few, large, bristle-tipped; spaces between lobes wide, rounded, barely reaching half way to midrib; upper surface dark green, glabrous; lower surface paler with few hairs at base of side veins; base broadly wedge-shaped to nearly squared; stalk 1-2 inches long; leaves turn orange or reddish-brown in autumn.

Flowers

When leaves half grown; monoecious (male and female flowers on same tree); staminate catkins 2.8 to 5 inches long, 30-35-flowered, hairy; calyx 4-5-lobed, greenish-brown; corolla absent; stamens 4-5; anthers yellow; pistillate flowers solitary or in pairs in axils of immature leaves, small, spherical, covered with green or brown scales; stigmas 3-lobed, curved, spreading, green.

Fruit

Autumn of second year; acorn sessile or short-stalked; cup saucer-shaped, 1/5 to 1/2 inch high, .75 to 1.2 inch wide, enclosing only 1/4 to 1/3 of nut, upper end turned in; scales closely overlapping, somewhat glossy, slightly hairy, reddish-brown, margins dark; nut oblong-ovoid, .6 to 1.2 inch long, reddish-brown, 1-seeded; base flat; kernel pinkish, very bitter.

Ecology

Habitat

Stream banks, flood plains, moist slopes, north and east-facing wooded bluffs; limestone, sandstone, chert, or granite soils.

Distribution

Principally east 1/3 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans applied an infusion of bark to to chapped skin and took an infusion of bark for asthma, coughing, and diarrhea. The bark was chewed for mouth sores and used to make a black dye. The acorns were used for food after soaking them with basswood ashes and water to leach out the bitter taste. The wood was used for lumber, furniture, interior finishes, railroad ties, and wagon spokes and rims.

Additional Notes