Central Park Conservancy

Red Oak

Scientific Name: Quercus rubra
Common Name: Red Oak
Division: Magnoliophyta
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
One of our most important native trees, found throughout the eastern deciduous forest along with American beech, sugar maple, and black oak.  Red oak is prized for its high quality wood, which is used for flooring and furniture.   In Central Park it is the second to pin oak in occurrence.  It has a rapid rate of growth for an oak and develops into a tall, wide-spreading tree that dominates the landscape. The Conservancy plants red oak along with black oak throughout Central Park’s woodland areas to replace invasive species that we remove.

Red Oak tree
Red Oak tree at West 97th Street
along West Drive

Flower
Detail of Red Oak tree flower 		 Male and female flowers grow on the same tree.  Male yellowish-green, slender hanging catkins 2 - 4 inches long, female borne on short spikes, appearing when tree leafs out in spring.

Fruit
Detail of Red Oak tree fruit

 Acorn 3/4 - 1 inch long with flat, thick, beret-like cap.  Among first to ripen among oaks, providing early harvest for wildlife.
Leaf
Detail of Red Oak tree leaf 

7 - 11 bristle-tipped lobes, dark green turning deep russet in fall.
Bark
Detail of Red Oak tree bark 

Gray and furrowed with alternating bands of smooth and rough bark in tree canopy.

 

 

Form:  Medium sized, up to 90 feet; short trunk with round, symmetrical, fairly dense crown, dividing into several large branches.

LOCATIONS IN CENTRAL PARK
Conservatory Water south of Kerbs Boathouse. 
67th Street on north side of the path that leads to Balto. 
West 81st Street adjacent to bridle path 
West 81st Street east of Drive 
In front of Arsenal

Photo Credit:
Steve Baskauf, bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/
Matthew Brown, Central Park Conservancy
Neil Calvanese, Central Park Conservancy