FAGACEAE - - Beech Family

Quercus falcata Michaux — Southern Red Oak

Southern Red Oak (Quercus falcata) - Tree becoming 40 m. tall, the bark blackish with broad scaly ridges; leaf-blades ovate or oval in outline, finely tomentose with yellowish-gray hairs beneath, pinnatifid above a rounded base into 3—5 flaring or scythe-shaped lobes, turning brown in fall; acorn short-stalked; cup flat-turbinate or saucer-shaped above the turbinate base, 15—18 mm. wide; nut subglobose, 10—15 mm. long. Hybridizes with Q. laevis = x Q. blufftonensis; with Q. phellos = x Q. subfalcata; with Q. cinerea = x Q. subintegra.

Habitat:

Upland forests, usually xeric or submesic, but occasionally in mesic situations. "Q. triloba Michaux", the form with the leaves only shallowly trilobed at the apex, can cause confusion. Though even medium-sized trees sometimes have leaves only of this form (rather than the typical form, deeply 5-7-lobed, the terminal lobe long-attenuate and falcate), it has no taxonomic merit.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Quercus falcata (Southern Red Oak)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Quercus falcata (Southern Red Oak)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.