Red Oak

Red Oak

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 Bark Gray and furrowed with alternating bands of smooth and rough bark in tree canopy.	Red Oak 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.
Red Oak Fruit Acorn 3/4 - 1 inch long with flat, thick, beret-like cap. Among first to ripen among oaks, providing early harvest for wildlife.	Red Oak Leaf 7 to 11 bristle-tipped lobes, dark green turning deep russet in fall.