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Red Oak
Quercus rubra
By Jason
Bookheimer
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The red oak is a very fascinating tree, although
very common. It is part of the Fagaceae family. The red oak is native to
Central and Eastern North America. Red oaks have moderate water
requirements and moderate tolerance to salt and alkali soils. They prefer
full sun and acidic, well drained, sandy locations. Red oaks tend to grow
from sixty to seventy-five feet tall and have a crown width of forty to
eighty feet. Their leaves are sharply pointed with coarsely toothed lobes
and are a glossy green in the spring and red or brown in the fall. The bark
of the tree is grey. The bark holds tightly to its core and also is rich in
tannin. Red oaks produce their fruit in the form of an acorn with a hard
outside shell. The acorn ranges from three quarters of an inch to an inch
in size.
Many nurseries carry red oaks and it may be the most widely
planted oak, because of its relatively fibrous root system it makes
for easy transplanting. However, it still faces several
problems. Red oaks are vulnerable to bacterial leaf scorch,
two-lined chestnut borer, oak horn gall, gypsy moth. Up to
only one inch of fill soil may kill the tree early in its life
because of nutrient overload. This nutrient overload occurs
when the plants are in the very beginning of their growing stages
when they are absorbing everything they can to grow. |
Some interesting things about the red oak are that the
acorns produced are edible and were used by Native Americans as a source of
food. Native Americans would soak the acorn to soften the hard shell, then
crack it to consume the nut. Currently people have other ideas for the
acorn and the red oak. The acorns and leaves can now be seen in craft shops
as decoration. The wood can be seen, because it is so dense, in furniture
shops, flooring, architectural millwork, moldings, doors, kitchen cabinets,
paneling, caskets and also commonly as fire wood. Red oaks are commonly
known for their strength, fall colors and acorns. The largest red oak ever
recorded is in the North Carolina Great Smoky Mountains National Park which
measures in at a whopping one-hundred and thirty-four feet tall.
Written spring 2004, as a service learning
project for Dr. Gary Coté's Biology 102 class at Radford University. Copyright
Pathways for Radford. |
