Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fagales
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus
Section: Lobatae (red oaks)
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Quercus falcata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read Edible Wild Plants: Oak from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.
Learn more from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina website.
There’s quite a bit of variation to leaf shape, even within the same tree, but there’s typically a somewhat U-shaped base where it joins the leaf stalk (petiole). The last lobe at the end of each leaf tends to be long and narrow with 3 bristly tips. Read more at Southern Piedmont Natural History.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus falcata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Quercus falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Quercus falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Quercus falcata var. falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-022a:
Quercus falcata var. falcata FAMILY Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Quercus falcata var. falcata
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Quercus falcata var. falcata
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Quercus falcata var. triloba
SYNONYMOUS WITH (MISAPPLIED) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus rubra
COMMON NAME:
Southern Red Oak, Spanish Oak
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
JK Marlow jkm191222_2363_q_falcata
Clay County AL
Cheaha State Park
)
Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_288
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_qutr3_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm0501c_17
January Pickens County SC
Roadside
)
JK Marlow jkm0402d_34
February Greenville County SC
Furman University
Bark grayish to black, roughly ridged and furrowed, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm0504g_32
April Pickens County SC
Roadside
Staminate flowers in clustered, drooping catkins, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm130420_445
April Transylvania County NC
Foothills Trail
Pistillate flowers with 3-lobed stigmas, solitary or in few-flowered spikes, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
JK Marlow s030520_a
May Greenville County SC
Terminal lobe usually longest, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).
)
JK Marlow jkm0506j_37
June Greenville County SC
Roadside
)
JK Marlow s050620_ab
June Greenville County SC
Roadside
Leaves grayish and densely hairy below, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).
)
JK Marlow jkm0407r_37
July Greenville County SC
Furman University
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_q_falcata_leaves
September
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_quercus_falcata_bark
September
)
JK Marlow jkm0510a_24
October Greenville County SC
North Greenville College
Thin, pubescent, reddish-brown cup usualy covers 1/3 of the rounded nut, per Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003).
)
JK Marlow jkm231019_6111
October Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm231019_6113
October Greenville County SC
)
Steve Marlow snm101220_7663
October Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm0211h_04
November Greenville County SC
Roadside
)
JK Marlow jkm0511d_28
November Greenville County SC
)
JK Marlow s021116_b
November Anderson County SC
Leaves conspicuously U-shaped at base, terminal lobe frequently strap-shaped, per Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988).
COMPARE
leaves of Cherrybark Oak and Southern Red Oak
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Quercus falcata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus falcata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Quercus falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America
Quercus falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Quercus falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Quercus falcata var. falcata
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-022a:
Quercus falcata var. falcata
FAMILY
Fagaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Quercus falcata var. falcata
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Quercus falcata var. falcata
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Quercus falcata var. triloba
SYNONYMOUS WITH (MISAPPLIED)
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus rubra
1184
Tree
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Upland forests, usually xeric or submesic, but occasionally in mesic situations, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common (uncommon in NC Mountains)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate, 5-ranked
FLOWER:
Spring
Staminate calyx 2-8 lobed, pistillate calyx 6-lobed
Petals absent
3-12 stamens in staminate flowers
Unisexual
Staminate flowers in clustered drooping catkins
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Acorn
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p048
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p311
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p292
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p215
- Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America (Stein, Binion, & Acciavatti, 2003) p026
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p169
- Guide to the Plants of Granite Outcrops (Murdy & Carter, 2000) p41
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p284
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p23
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p257
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p268
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