oak tree identification

sam153452 · Jun 25, 2019

Can someone help me identify this oak tree? I've had this in my front yard for 15 years. Thanks.

Mark De La Cruz · Jun 25, 2019

Sure does look like a Black Oak.

JD3000 · Jun 25, 2019

Link?

oldoakman · Jun 25, 2019

I'm going to say Shumard

rope-a-dope · Jun 25, 2019

Leaf fuzz underneath? I vote plain q. rubra. Petiole looks bright red...

sam153452 · Jun 25, 2019

Here's a closeup of the back of a leaf. There seems to be something at the point where the secondary vines joins to the primary veins.

JD3000 · Jun 26, 2019

I like red as well though we have a lot of variation in leaf sinuses on them here. There is likely hybridization between similiar species as well.

Black, red, and shumard have given many a student fits in ID classes over the years.

ATH · Jun 26, 2019

I like that one for Q. shumardii

Q. velutina would have more pubescence on the back of the leaves and the acorn would be "frilly".

Acorn is too small and leaves cut too deep to be Q. rubra

Q. palustris would have a smaller cap and the leaves would usually be cut deeper

Q. coccinea would also likely have deeper margins and the acorn as a little circle on the bottom.

Of course that second picture sure looks like Q. upsidedownium

sam153452 · Jun 26, 2019

I just picked up some acorns from the front. These are not fresh on the tree, but on the ground. Unfortunately there's a resident squirrel so I can't find many. Maybe the pictures would help. Someone from another forum suggested it might be a hybrid of Northern Red Oak and Shumard. I do not know enough to agree or disagree.

Birdyman88 · Jul 2, 2019

Besides Shumard, give some consideration to Cherrybark Oak (quercus pagoda) or to Northern Pin Oak (quercus ellipsoidalis). They are both very similar in bark, leaf, and acorn. Your circular acorn shape matches either of these two. The leaves are eerily similar to each other. But the bark picture looks exactly like cherrybark, with those long reddish streaks. It's one of the most common oaks around here. If you're in Columbia MO, you are outside the common range for northern pin.

SomethingWitty · Jul 12, 2019

JD3000 said:
I like red as well though we have a lot of variation in leaf sinuses on them here. There is likely hybridization between similiar species as well.

Black, red, and shumard have given many a student fits in ID classes over the years.

I was under the impression that most oak hybrids displayed almost every trait from one parent or the other, although I don't know where I read that. Nature's Garden by Samuel Thayer, maybe. There is a chapter on harvesting and using acorns.

Would that change in later generations? Do they usually reproduce as successfully as the parents?