Scarlet Oak
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| iScarlet Oak | ||||||||||||||
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 Leaves and male catkins in spring
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| Quercus coccinea Muenchh. |
The Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea) is an oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. People get the scarlet oak confused with the Pin Oak, Red Oak, and sometimes the Black Oak, so keep an eye out for that. It is mainly native to the eastern United States, from southern Maine west to eastern Oklahoma, and south to southern Alabama. It is also native in the extreme south of Ontario, Canada. It occurs on dry, sandy, usually acidic soils.
It is a medium-large deciduous tree growing to 20-30 m tall with an open, rounded crown. The leaves are glossy green, 7-17 cm long and 8-13 cm broad, lobed, with seven lobes, and deep sinuses between the lobes. Each lobe has 3-7 bristle-tipped teeth. The leaf is hairless (unlike the related Pin Oak, which has tufts of pale orange-brown down where the lobe veins join the central vein). The acorns are ovoid, 7-13 mm long and 17-31 mm broad, a third to a half covered in a deep cup, green maturing pale brown about 18 months after pollination; the kernel is very bitter.
 Leaf and acorn |
[edit] Uses
Scarlet Oak is often planted as an ornamental tree, popular for its bright red fall color. The wood is generally marketed as red oak, but is of inferior quality, being somewhat weaker and not forming as large a tree.
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