Quercus rubra L.

SE Canada; Eastern USA; 0-1800 m; introduced in Europe in 1724;

25-30 m (smaller in cultivation); stout trunk; branches often low on the trunk;

10-20 x 7-12 cm; oblong; apex pointed; base broadly cuneate; margin with each side 3-5 lobulate, bristle-tipped lobes and shallow sinuses; dark lustrous green, hairless above (except when young, with uniseriate and solitary hairs on veins, and scattered rosulate ones); pale dull green beneath, with some axillary tufts of brown stipitate fascicled hairs; red at fall; petiole hairless, 2.5-5 cm, dotted with red;

spring; male catkins slender, 5-8 cm long;

acorn 1.5-2.8 cm long; ovoid or subglobose; singly or paired; cup shallow, at the base of the nut; with rusty brown rounded scales; maturing in 2 years;

hardy; prefers lime-free soils, even sandy or rocky ones; fast growing; living up to 200 years;

– A. Camus : n° 425; – Sub-genus Quercus, section Lobatae, Series Coccineae; – Closely related to Q.coccinea , but branches of rubra are stouter and horizontal, leaves have shallower sinuses; – Hybridizes with Q.coccinea (= x benderi ), Q.ilicifolia (= x fernaldii ), Q.imbricaria (= x runcinata ), Q.palustris (= x richteri ), Q.phellos (= x heterophylla ), Q.shumardii (= x riparia ) , Q.velutina (= x hawkinsiae ) ;