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Northern Red Oak

Quercus rubra

Northern Red Oak 2

Identification

The Northern Red Oak is also known as Quercus rubra. The Northern Red Oak is a tall tree. It has large wide branches with a rounding crown. It can grow up to 90 feet tall. Some of the leaves are 5–9 inches long, with 7–11 bristle-tipped lobes. Generally the leaves are very uniform in shape, dull green to blue-green. It has yellow-green slender, hanging catkins, 2 to 4 inches long. Acorns are 3/4 to 1 inch long and nearly round; acorn top is flat and thick resembling a beret; matures in 2 growing seasons, in late summer and fall. The flowers are quite stout and red-brown; terminal buds are multiple, quite large, conical, and covered with red-brown. Young stems are smooth whereas older bark develops wide, flat-topped ridges. The shallow furrows form a pattern resembling ski tracks.

Niche
Northern Red Oak is a producer, because it produces its own food and food for other animals too. The Red Oak does this by taking in the sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. All different types of animals eat of off this tree such as bears, deer, or squirrels.

Other Roles in the Ecosystem
The Red Oak is a fairly large tree that can give shelter to many animals. Also, animals come to feed of off the tree's flowers and acorns.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/northern-red-oak
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=38

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) António Pena, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/8358282@N02/3235731853
  2. Adapted by redsquirrel4321 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_rubra

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